My Comrade the Nazi
by Charlie Death
Summary: During WW2 Ludwig was assigned to get close to Ivan for the Non-Aggression Pact. While staying with Ivan, he became close to him and eventually began to fall for him. As the war progresses, he is pinned against him and forced to take sides. LudwigxIvan
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: **This takes place during WW2 so there is a lot of Nazism, so if it is offensive to you in anyway, I apologize and suggest you don't read it. It's rated M for future chapters. For those wondering why my other story is not updated and that I am working on this one, I am still in a writers block on it and this is to rehabilitate my writing skills since I've been too busy to keep it up. Thanks for your patience and reading this!

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Ludwig sat in his office massaging his temples and tapped his fingers rapidly on his desk. He never thought he would be given this as an order. His boss's voice from their meeting just a few minutes ago echoed in his head.

_'Ludwig, I want you to go learn Russian. I'm going to send you over in a couple weeks, so learn quickly.'_

Ludwig let out a heavy sigh and stared at the stack of books on his desk. A rather thick and plain German to Russian dictionary stared at him. It gave him a sudden chill down his spine.

It was abnormally hot that day and Ludwig wasn't used to it. He removed his hat and fanned himself off as he loosened his uniform's coat. He decided on a walk to observe the drills being performed outside would calm him down and get some fresh air. Not caring for etiquette he walked down the busy hall, fanning himself with his hat and tugging at his collar. He stopped when he got a dirty look from another SS officer.

"Fix your uniform or I'll have to report you." The officer snapped.

Ludwig placed his hat back on and straightened out his uniform.

"Besser?"

"Ja. Don't forget your representing the Fatherland, so don't slack." The officer saluted Ludwig. "Heil Hitler."

". . .Heil Hitler."

Ludwig shook his head, he hated having to respond to the salute, and headed to the entrance where security had been called. Some wacko was causing a scene and angering all the officers in the area. He was just going to slip by and not get involved, at least he was supposed to if he didn't hear a familiar voice.

"WEST! Hey! Let me go! West!"

Ludwig hid his face with his hat and tried get by unnoticed as the one the guy was addressing to. But it didn't work since he was grabbed from behind and found himself being hugged. He let out an irritated groan that seemed to say 'fuck,not again.'

"This is my beloved baby brother! I came all the way from Prussia to congratulate him!"

"Gilbert...get...off..." Ludwig hissed as the other officers just stared at them.

"No! It's been too long, give your big brother a kiss!"

Gilbert tried to plant a kiss on Ludwig's cheek. Ludwig evaded him by placing a hand on his brother's face and pushing him off. He then turned his attention to the security and promptly apologized for his brother's behaviour and convinced them to leave Gilbert alone. The two brothers then walked out of the building and strolled by a passing patrol.

"Why did you come to Berlin?" Ludwig asked, looking over his shoulder at the patrol.

"Do I need a reason? I wanted to see you."

"You never want to see me. You always want something."

"Yeah, I'm just _that_ awesome."

Ludwig laughed, he never understood why his brother felt so self-centered. Gilbert stepped ahead of him and held out a small black box.

"You know how much I love you, right?" Gilbert spoke as romantically possible in German.

"Proposing to your own brother? Now I know you lost it." Ludwig rolled his eyes.

"I wish West! No, it's not a ring. I meant to give it to you...uh...centuries ago. Back when I lived here in Berlin with you."

"That long ago, huh?"

"Yeah, you were so cute wanting to be a Teutonic knight. But this uniform looks better on you. Kinda sexy." Gilbert teased as he tugged at the swastika arm band. "Suits you."

Ludwig rolled his eyes and scoffed as he slapped his brother's hand away. He took the box and opened it. Inside, on a silver chain was an iron cross pendent. "Wow I guess you can be sentimental."

"It matches mine," Gilbert boasted as he pulled out an identical pendent on an identical chain from beneath his suit. "Now everyone can know we are_related_."

Ludwig fought the urge to punch his brother in the face. His brother's sick jokes of embarrassing him in public were tolerable at least, and he can handle his incestuous suggestions, but boasting about it drove him to his edge. He's surprised he hasn't snapped and beaten the shit out of him yet. But getting a gift, or anything really, was something rare and something to enjoy. Gilbert was infamous for spending money on himself and only himself. Being nice, and because he personally wanted to have a pendent like his brother's since he was little, he gave the box back and put on the pendent.

"Glad you like it. Now I have a favour to ask."

"I knew it. Gilbo, I don't have any money to give you." He was going to go on but Gilbert's smirking face bothered him. "What?"

"You said 'Gilbo'. You haven't called me that in years! Say it again, West!" Gilbert grabbed Ludwig's left arm and held it tightly as he obsessively rubbed his face on his sleeve.

"What the?! Du Scheißekopf! Get off!" Ludwig yelled in his trademark deep voice as he tried to pry his brother off. "Not when I'm in uniform!"

"So I can later?"

"Nein!"

"Ciao!" A voice floated over the sound of another patrol marching by. The two Germans turned around to see an over energetic Italian skipping in their direction. "Ti amo, Ludwig!"

Ludwig's face flushed the moment he heard what Feliciano said. "D-don't yell that so loud!" Ludwig snapped making Feliciano stop in his tracks. "Germans are different from Italians, you don't just go yelling...uh..._'that'_ in public. Good thing most Germans don't know Italian, but still!"

"Yeah West, what _'did'_ he say?" Gilbert asked staring at Ludwig curiously. He never learned Italian like his brother, then again, in all of Germany, Ludwig's only friend is an Italian he had met on the battlefield.

"Nothing, he said nothing. Anyway, why are you here? I thought you were given an assignment in Italy."

"Mussolini is visiting, I'm his escort! You know that!"

"Mein Führer did say something about that..." Ludwig's voice trailed off. "Either way, it's not often we get to escort our bosses to other countries. How did you--?"

"I told him I wanted to see the one I love!"

"Feli!"

"Sì?"

"Shut up...Please."

"West! I thought you liked _me_!" Gilbert said trying to look heartbroken and trying not to laugh.

"No, I _hate_ you. What are you drinking anyway?"

"Your beer! I'm crashing at your place." Gilbert spoke matter of factly and began to walk in the direction of Ludwig's house.

"Me too!" The Italian cheered and walked beside Gilbert, talking to him about the pasta he and his brother made the other day. Ludwig just hoped to God that Feliciano's brother doesn't show up as well.

Ludwig headed back to his office. Normally he'd go save his beer from his moocher brother but he had to learn Russian in a couple weeks. With the two most annoying people staying at his place, he'd learn nothing. He sat heavily into his chair at his desk and opened up the language books and began cramming as much Russian as possible. It must have been hours that he sat there reading aloud small Russian phrases and learning their sentence structures and particles. The bustling sound of SS officers in the hall outside his office had died down into silence and the only sound besides his repeating of Russian into a tape recorder was the sound of the night patrol's feet as they heavily marched by. He looked at the clock on his desk. It was late, REALLY late. He put the books and tape recorder away in his desk and headed home.

When he got home he expected Gilbert to be passed out drunk and the place littered with empty beer bottles. Feliciano would be fast asleep in his bed, and knowing him, he would be naked as well, which always made him wonder if Italians had any decency at all. Which would mean that not only did he have to change his sheets in the morning, he'd have to sleep on the couch if Gilbert wasn't on it. To his surprise, instead of clinking of bottles or loud snoring coming from his house, there was cheerful laughter. He found the door unlocked and walked in, removing his coat and hat.

"...and so Antonio was so scared that brother was going to hit him again he stayed in my room!"

"No way! Isn't he older than your brother?"

"Yeah, but my brother grew up in south Italy so he's really violent. Anyways, we ended up sneaking Antonio out of the country because he didn't have a passport. Brother won't admit it but he misses driving him insane by feeding him pasta with too much garlic on purpose."

They both erupted into laughter again. Ludwig hung up his coat and hat and began to loosen up his uniform again. A familiar smell wafted out of the kitchen and dinning room. He followed it, to find Gilbert and Italy laughing, large plate of pasta in between them and several empty bottles of beer.

"Oh Ludwig! You never made the pasta I brought over last time so I decided to make it! You didn't have a lot of good spices to go with it so it's not the best." Feliciano said as he waved at the returning German.

"Oh...I don't really..." Ludwig was cut off by Gilbert after he took a bite of some of the pasta.

"Mm, this is good! He's a keeper! If I'm competing with him for you, I'd have to bump it up!" Gilbert joked.

"Don't talk with your mouth fu-"

"I mean, Feliciano, you'd make a great wife...if you were a chick that is."

"Oh thanks! But uh...I don't like guys, I like women." Feliciano spoke feeling oddly flattered.

"Seriously? Cus you look and act sooo gay. You had me fooled! Me, the great and almighty Gilbert of Prussia, was fooled by some silly Italian peasant like you!"

They cracked up laughing again and Ludwig just shook his head and took the plate of pasta Feliciano handed him.

"Well...to be honest," Feliciano started. "My first love was another boy."

"I...didn't need to hear that." Ludwig muttered hiding his face from the two of them as he picked up a fork to eat the pasta.

"Seriously? You kidding?" Gilbert said as he finished his beer.

"No. Though, I'm pretty sure he thought I was a girl."

"Why was that?"

"I was...uh...how do I say this." Feliciano took a bit of the pasta and thought as he chewed. "I was kind of like a maid when I was a kid. I had to work for this really stingy guy in Austria and the only clothes he had my size were girl's."

"No way! Was his name Roderich Edelstein?!" Gilbert nearly shouted.

"Yeah, why?"

Gilbert slammed his fists on the table making his empty bottles topple over. "I fucking hate that guy! Think he's all that because he's a damn aristocrat! With his stupid expensive portraits of royalty and-"

"He lost his money." Ludwig interrupted.

"Really?" Gilbert turned to him. "You serious?" Ludwig nodded. "Yes! Serves him right! Please tell me that his marriage with that Hungarian whore is falling apart." Ludwig let out a sigh and nodded. "YES! She doesn't want to be in the poor house does she?"

"It's not that...I don't know the details but it had to do with something that happened when they went on a trip to France. Something about him cheating on her with another man or something. I couldn't read her handwriting, and she speaks very poor German."

"Another _guy_?"

"I asked him about it and he denied it. Said he would never do such things."

"I believe him." Feliciano added in between mouthfuls of pasta. "I lived with him until I hit puberty. Then he let me go live in Italy again with my brother. He always treated her like royalty. I did more work than she did. Besides, he never liked the company of other guys. I was the only guy there besides him."

"Oh yeah, she used to work for him too..." Gilbert looked thoughtful for a moment. "Hey, West. Why were you gone so long? I was actually hoping we could drink together like good old times, but you were gone all day. The hell kind of work does Adolf have you do?"

"I have to learn Russian."

There was a long silence, the only noise was Ludwig continuing to eat.

"Dude..." Gilbert said. "Russian? Why Russian?"

"Hell if I know. I just follow orders."

"Russian's are scary." Feliciano whined. "Don't go to Russia! Even if it's orders, don't go! Stay with me in Italy!"

"No." Ludwig answered flatly. "I'm going to follow my orders and besides. I don't want to be harassed by your brother."

"You get _harassed_?" Gilbert laughed.

"Not really, it's just annoying to be called 'macho potato' all the time."

"That's lame. But why do you think he's making you learn that Communist language? Their our enemies right? Why learn their language?"

Ludwig shrugged.

"Well...enough about Russia. I don't want to have nightmares again. Let's just finish this pasta! And if I can find any stores that sell some around here, I'll go make more tomorrow. Oh but you need tomatoes too, but the good ones me and my brother like are from Spain so..."

"Feliciano...we're not going to have pasta."

"But it's _so_ good! OH! I never had you try this awesome vermicelli I make! It's really good!"

"Know what else is good?" Ludwig snapped. "You shutting up and being useful."

Feliciano looked hurt and nodded and was actually quiet the rest of the night. Several beers later after diner, they all headed off to bed. Feliciano slept in the guest room after he cleaned it up and Gilbert slept on the sofa. Of course, following the same usual routine from when Ludwig stayed in Italy, Feliciano snuck into his bed complaining of bad dreams and being scared of being alone. In the end, he got little sleep from being woken up every half hour by Feliciano muttering his strange 've' noise and then trying to cuddle with him. He tried swapping beds but Feliciano would just go in that bed to within half an hour complaining of the same thing. He began wondering if he makes it all up just for the sake of being _annoying_. He really needed to learn how to lock people out of his house, he hated having people over. Especially Feliciano and Gilbert.

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**Author's Note: **I would like to point out that I do not speak any Italian besides a couple phrases, along with German so if there are any errors, please let me know! Here are some translations to the words. I tried to incorporate as much as I could but some words looked exactly like English words and it would have been confusing to add them in. So I left them out.

**Besser:** Better (German)

**Ja:** Yes (German)

**Du Scheißekopf: **You Shithead (German)

**Nein:** No (German)

**Ciao:** Hello (Italian)

**Ti amo:** I love you (Italian)

**Mein Führer: **My leader (German)


	2. Chapter 2

Ch.2

Ludwig turned the alarm off and got out of the bed. It was no surprise that Feliciano was there drooling on his pillow going on about pasta next to him. He placed his clothes out on a chair, neatly folded and headed to the bathroom to take a shower. After what was a some what relaxing shower that was more to wake him up and forget about his guests, he walked out with a towel around his waist and placed his dirty laundry in his hamper. The moment he stepped out of the bathroom he was greeted by the mixed scent of different foods and spices. There is only one person who uses spices in that house and Ludwig was honestly surprised that he was up. After getting dressed he decided to go see what Feliciano was cooking. Before he got to the kitchen he heard furniture being moved and a series of swears in German. He poked his head into the living room to see Gilbert trying to shove something behind the sofa.

"What are you doing?" Ludwig asked, feeling agitated.

"Oh! West! umm...It's not what you think." Gilbert started. "It's not my puke! So I'm not going to clean it ok!" He held up his pillow that was covered in vomit. He had drank too much and threw up in his sleep. Why he was trying to hide it behind the sofa, Ludwig will never know.

"Damn it, Gilbert! Just clean that mess up."

"It's not mine! I'm not going to clean it up!" Ludwig walked into his room, pulled a pistol out of a drawer, walked back to where his brother was, and pointed it at him. "Clean up your mess. You can puke on your own shit at your house and not clean it, but not in mine!"

"Ok ok! Geez! Calm down!" Gilbert picked up the pillow and went to go wash it. "Geez, Old Fritz, can't you send someone to do this for me?"

Ludwig put his gun away and headed into the kitchen. It was like Gilbert to pull something like that off and he does, fairly often. When he walked in he saw Feliciano putting eggs on a plate with potatoes and left over pasta.

"Look, Ludwig! It's us under the summer sun!" Felicano spoke enthusiaticly holding up the plate. He was referring himself as the pasta, Ludwig as the chopped potatoes, and the sun as the egg. "Isn't it_ cute_? Oh but I was going to make something else but you didn't have any of the ingredients I needed."

Ludwig wouldn't admit he got what he meant by the dish being 'cute', you sort of catch on when you've lived with him for awhile, but that wasn't why he hasn't responded. Ludwig shut his eyes and massaged his temples again as he felt another headache coming on.

"Feliciano...why _aren't_ you dressed?" Ludwig asked.

"But I am! See? I'm wearing a shirt!" Feliciano tugged on his favourite sailor shirt.

Ludwig left the room without another word and gave Feliciano a pair of his pants. Of course, Feliciano had to be difficult and refuse to put them on so Ludwig had to pretty much hold him down and force the pants on. Gilbert walked in, finished with cleaning his mess, the moment Ludwig managed to get the Italian's pants on.

"Damn West! This early in the morning already?" Gilbert yelled out pointing at the two. Ludwig had shoved Feliciano into the wall when he was pulling the pants up and his hands were still on the waist band. "I thought you _weren't _like that."

Ludwig dropped his friend and promptly punched his brother in the face. He then calmly sat down and began eating. The others joined with one on each side of him. The moment he finished he began lecturing Feliciano about needing to make pants his first priority when he woke up. Then he lectured Gilbert about needing to stop being an ass and picking up after himself. Once he was done, he fed his dogs and left for his office to go cram more Russian. The sad thing about that morning was that it has almost become normal to him.

He didn't need to be in work today, but his office was the only place where he can get away from the two. He managed to completely memorize and understand 3 chapters from the language textbook on Russian. He felt proud of himself and a bit sleepy, but sleep can wait. Feliciano popped into mind shouting cheerily, "Let's sleep together!" He shivered, maybe sleeping at his desk now would be a good idea. He shifted the books over and laid his head down. A nap for a few minutes wouldn't hurt. Just as he was going to fall asleep there was a sharp knock on his door. Ludwig let out a heavy sigh and sat up.

"Come in."

The SS officer from yesterday walked in. He raised his eyebrow when he saw Ludwig's tired yet agitated face.

"So it's you." Ludwig leaned back with a heavy sigh. "I have my uniform on correctly."

The officer snapped into attention. "Are you Ludwig?" He asked in a strict tone. Ludwig nodded. The officer suddenly looked nervous as he stared down at the papers in his hand. "U-uh...I have to apologize! I never realized how high of a rank you are! Please don't report my behaviour from yesterday to the Führer, I didn't realize who you are."

Ludwig waved his hand in dismissal. "It's fine, I forgot I was on duty."

The officer nodded. "I was asked to give you these documents in regards of your current assignment." He held up a thin folder. "And here is something that you've been asked to do. A report should be filed in by tonight." He walked over and handed the folders to Ludwig.

"Thanks. You can go." Ludwig opened the folder on his current assignment ignoring the officer's salute. When he read it, the colour drained from his face.

"Sir?" The officer asked, unsure on why Ludwig froze and has a worried look on his face. After he wasn't given an answer he leaned over to see the contents. Ludwig immediately shut the folder and stood up.

"Excuse me," He said as he rushed by the officer out the door. The officer just looked back at the desk and left baffled.

Ludwig ran out to his car and started the engine. The moment it roared to life a pair of hands grabbed him from behind the seat.

"Where are you off to in such a hurry, West?" Gilbert chuckled as he rested an arm on top of Ludwig's head and poked his face.

"What are _you_ doing in my car?" Ludwig grumbled as he shifted the gear and began to pull the car out of it's parked location.

"I was going to hot wire it and take it for a spin since you'll probably be gone all day at work. But I _guess_ I was caught." Gilbert crawled up into the front seat, making his brother grumble as his hat was knocked off. Gilbert snatched the hat and put it on his own head. "So where _are_ we going anyways?"

"The airport."

"Airport? The hell why? What's over there?"

"I have to ask my boss what he's planning." Gilbert stared at Ludwig, a look of pure seriousness replaced his usual easygoing demeanor. "It's not good to question your superiors. Don't you have an ounce of loyalty in you?"

"I am loyal." Ludwig snapped. "I'm just worried about what's going to happen to me."

"What do you have to worry about?" Gilbert asked as he lowered the window. "What is it he has you doing that has got you so off your ass and up a tree like a scared cat?"

Normally, Ludwig would have given off a sarcastic laugh to his brother's comment, but this time he really was uncharacteristically worried. "I have to live in Russia."

"What? Pull over the car." Gilbert waited for his brother to pull over but when he kept driving down the highway, he rose his voice. "Pull over! Damn it, West, pull over!" He grabbed the wheel and pulled it towards him, making the car swerve off the road. Ludwig slammed on the break making them both lunge forth.

"What the hell?!" Ludwig cried when he managed to block his head from hitting the steering wheel with his hand. He shoved his brother. "What were you thinking?! You better be glad there were no other cars!"

"I was thinking that you should just stop here!" Gilbert pulled out the keys and took a breather while his brother silently fumed beside him. "Ok...You're going to_ live_ in Russia? I heard that right?" Ludwig nodded. "Fuck, I hate Russians! Especially this one guy I met when I--"

"Why did you have to pull the wheel and nearly make me crash?!"

"Because, it's the only way to keep you from making a mistake." Ludwig stared at his brother curiously. "Don't go against your superior, for one. Two, if you question him, and if he was making you go there for pissing him off for some reason, it'll only make things worse." Gilbert paused. "This is our chance!" He leaned over against Ludwig so that their faces were just inches apart. Ludwig could smell that his brother was drinking again. "If you live in Russia, you'll run into him, and when you do, you can get all the inside information about him and his country and we can turn it in and _BAM_! Promotion!"

"Gilbo, we can't get promoted."

"You know what I mean! We can get more money, a bigger house, awesome cars!" he laughed. "We'll be set! And even better! We'll have material to blackmail that damn Communist bastard who...well, it doesn't matter. I'll be able to get my revenge on him!"

Ludwig grabbed his brother's face and tried to push him off, but he stuck to him like a leech. "You're too close, back off." Gilbert just ignored him.

"Oh for the love of Fritz, if you help me with this West I could just kiss you!"

"You try to anyways, and I can do without your --"

"I'll clean your house for a whole year! I'll do anything! Leave you alone even! Just....Just help me get material for revenge ok?"

"What did he do to make you want payback so badly?"

"I don't feel like talking about it but, just do this for me ok? For your big bro? Please?!"

Ludwig thought for a moment. It would be wonderful to not have to deal with Gilbert for a whole year. "Sure, only if--"

"Thank you West! I'll even stop taking pictures of you while you're sleeping!" Gilbert kissed Ludwig repeatedly on the cheek.

"Ack! Get off!" Ludwig shoved his brother off, took his foot off the pedal and managed to place the bottom of his boot on his brother's face. Gilbert opened the door and fell out laughing.

"I was kidding! Geez, don't be so up tight!" Ludwig shut the door and locked it and stared out the windshield. "I got the keys." Gilbert teased, jingling the keys in his hand. Ludwig grumbled and opened the door. Gilbert jumped back into the car and handed Ludwig the keys. After he started the car, Ludwig spun it around and headed back to his office. They drove back by the sound of Gilbert's humming of his favourite song.

"You know, you should really stop." Ludwig muttered as Gilbert began tracing the swastika on his hat.

"What? Irritating you? But I love to see you get irritated. Reminds me of when you where little." Gilbert turned and smiled as his younger sibling. "I can't believe you're all grown up already!"

"So who is this guy?"

"I can't remember his name but all I can remember is that his name is written with a backwards 'N'-B-A-H. I have no idea how you pronounce that in Russian."

"Ivan."

"What?"

"His name is Ivan. I've been learning Russian as an order."

"Well then. When you meet this '_Ivan_' get as much info as you can on him."

"What what does he look like?"

Gilbert paused and thought for a moment. "Russian." Ludwig rolled his eyes and punched his brother in the arm. "Ow! Hey, I was drunk! Everything is all fuzzy, so I don't know...Oh! He has this really weird obsession with sunflowers if that helps."

"_Sunflowers_?"

"Yeah, he's really weird. Anyways, once we get back, do you think we can drink a few?"

"Sure."

Gilbert cheered and started babbling on about how Feliciano got yelled at for being late to a meeting he was needed at. The next couple weeks went by smoothly and it was time for Ludwig to make the flight to Russia. After many tearful goodbyes and hugs from Feliciano, Gilbert went over his game plan on what to do if he ran into the Russian who's been marked with revenge.


	3. Chapter 3

Ch. 3

A man sat on a train, staring out the window at the passing landscapes. His eyes drifted down to a folder in his lap and opened it up. Inside was a photo of a blond haired, blue eyed man with a stern expression on his face. The papers below had everything you could possibly know about him, including his age, height, favourite food, hobbies and _all_ measurements right down to the size of his boots. The man closed the folder and leaned against the window, resting his head in his gloved hand. A smile spread on his face.

"So I'm meeting his brother, da?" He chuckled.

Ludwig snapped out of his trance when the pilot announced that he's making his decent into Moscow. He packed up his German to Russian books and waited patiently for them to land. The moment he stepped off the plane he had guns pointed in his face. Two Soviet guards questioned his arrival at gun point, though they spoke too fast for him to understand. The other Russians in the background had a look of utmost shock, fear, and anger.

"What are you doing here, fascist?!" One of the guards demanded, speaking much slower so that Ludwig was able to catch what they are saying.

Ludwig felt a little panicked, regretting not questioning his boss's motives. He tried to explain that he was there for a reason, _not_ about war, but his Russian came out wrong with slips of German. He looked around and saw another officer leaning over, staring curiously at a poster of a soldier kissing a peasant. He appeared to be a little taller than the guards and had a long pink scarf on. He stood out enough that he was sure he was the one he was told to meet once he arrived.

"I'm here to meet him!" Ludwig spoke clearly in Russian as he pointed. He said it loud enough to make the officer turn around. The guards looked at each other and then the officer.

"Hey, comrade! You know this fascist?" They called out. The guy walked over and examined Ludwig for a moment.

"You are Ludwig, da?" He asked, a surprisingly childish voice. His cheeks were rounded and a little pudgy with a faint blush from the cold, or was it the heat from the scarf?

Ludwig nodded. "I've been given orders to--"

The officer raised his hand to stop Ludwig from talking and turned back to the guards. "Comrade Stalin asked me personally to care for this fascist." The officer spoke, receiving shocked looks from the two. "It seems we may have a chance in gaining a new comrade, and a rather high ranking one." He winked and they laughed. The Russian dismissed his comrades and they went back to monitor the other flights.

"Thanks," Ludwig sighed with relief. "I won't bother introducing myself since you know my name, so can I have yours?"

"Oh, why of course comrade! I'm Ivan Branginski. You'll be staying with me, da." The Russian spoke, making a gesture towards the exit. "If I'd known that I didn't have to be in this uniform, I wouldn't have worn it." He let out a soft laugh. "But, it's nice to wear it once in a while, da?"

Ludwig walked with him and stopped in front of the poster he had been staring at moments ago. He turned to Ivan and gestured to it. "Is it really necessary for them to be uh..." He paused. He didn't know the Russian word for 'kiss' and hoped that Ivan got what he meant by the pause.

Ivan leaned over Ludwig's shoulder and smiled. "It's one of my favourites, though, I'm not sure why either, but I like it, da."

"Yeah but what it says. It doesn't fit the image."

"Our army is the army of liberation for all workers in the world," Ivan read off the the poster. "Hmm...I suppose not, but I still like it. Come, Toris should be waiting for us."

Ludwig followed Ivan outside where he looked around as if he was lost. But before he could say anything to the Russian a car pulled up and a man with brown hair to his shoulders stepped out of the drivers side.

"I'm soo sorry Ivan! I tried to run and deliver the--"

"It's alright. We didn't wait long. Toris, this is Ludwig. He's German!" Ivan spoke a little too cheerily pointing to Ludwig.

Toris smiled a little weakly and turned back to Ivan and started talking quickly in Russian. The entire time, he kept a look of fear on his face when he spoke. They climbed into the car and drove off to a large house where Ludwig stared at it strangely. Ivan was the first to notice Ludwig's expression and questioned him about it.

"Oh, it's just that, you communists are about equality for everyone, yet you have a huge house."

Ivan stared at it curiously, thinking about it for a moment before answering. "I don't live alone. Toris lives with me as well." Toris nodded from behind the wheel as he turned the engine off and they climbed out. "Also, two others live with me and occasionally I let a few of my comrades stay over if they can't get home or if they traveled from their home to get here."

Ludwig uttered a silent 'oh' and kept his mouth shut until they got inside. He was shown to his room and given a small set of rules to follow while he was in Russia. They were fairly simple; no preaching fascist ideology, no wearing of his uniform or any nazi images (just to keep the people from freaking even more than they probably are), and to stay out of his vodka. Since it was late when he got to Russia he decided to go to sleep early to make up for jet-lag and adjust to the time quicker.

It was around 5 in the morning when Toris crawled out of bed looking back at the sleeping Russian. Ivan was passed out on the bed beside him with an empty vodka bottle in his hand. Toris suddenly felt guilty for Ivan drinking. He had cried last night when he came onto him, even though by the end he was screaming Ivan's name instead of 'stop'. After living with Ivan for so long he noticed small things, like that Ivan would wake up in the middle of the night and drink if he hurt him or made him cry during sex. If Toris didn't cry, Ivan would be cuddled up close to him like a small child after they had a nightmare. He never figured out everything on Ivan but he knew him well enough to predict his next actions.

He pulled on his pants and picked up his clothes and snuck out of the room. He watched Ivan roll over and drop the bottle with a loud 'clink' onto the floor. He would be too drunk to wake up to the sound. Toris gently shut the door when he heard a voice behind him.

"What were you doing in his room?"

Toris turned around to find himself staring into Ludwig's bright blue eyes. His heart nearly stopped in surprise.

"Ludwig! I-I was just uh..." Toris shifted his clothes in his hand. Ludwig's eyes drifted down to them and his face grew red.

"Oh! I didn't know! I'm sorry I asked. You don't need to tell me." He turned around and looked down the cold empty hall. "Is it always this cold in Russia?"

"It gets worse. What are you doing up so early?"

"I wanted to see if Ivan was up, I figured we'd get a head start on him showing me around Moscow. It's my first time in Russia." Ludwig started to walk down the hall to the kitchen, followed by Toris. His curiosity started to bite at him and he had to ask. "So how long have you and Ivan...uh..."

"It's been so long, I don't really know when. I don't know if you'll call what we have a 'relationship'."

"Oh, so it's just..."

"Sort of. It's a love hate thing." Toris chucked as he sat down at the table besides Ludwig. "He would have been up if he didn't drink himself into unconsciousness again." Ludwig turned and gave Toris a look asking for more detail. Toris sighed and continued. "I cried last night. He always drinks afterwards if I cry, but he always waits until I'm asleep to drink. I don't know why he drinks when I cry though. I think it's because he actually feels guilty in doing it."

"Why did you cry? I'd imagine it'd hurt but..." Ludwig looked away embarrassed, he _never_ had a conversation like this before.

"It was because I didn't want it last night."

Ludwig nearly fell out of his chair. "So wait it was... uh... hold on for a moment." He ran into his room and came back flipping through his German to Russian dictionary. He was actually shocked that the word was in there. "So he...he _raped_ you?"

Toris laughed uneasily. He never really thought of it that way anymore. "Not really, but at the same time yeah. I did submit to him and enjo--"

"Don't want to hear." Ludwig interrupted covering his ears. Toris chucked on how much he was blushing.

"I'll make us something to eat if you want." Toris offered as he stood up.

"That would be nice."

While they were eating Ludwig decided to ask Toris a few questions on why they were the only three in the house if others lived there. Toris just smiled and chuckled as he explained that Edward had taken Raivis to see a doctor in St. Petersburg because his fainting spells were becoming more frequent. The more Toris talked about the life in living with Ivan the more worried he became. Just what kind of person _is_ Ivan? Then, just like that, a light went off in his head. _Ivan_. That's the name of the guy his brother wanted revenge on.

"Is it alright if I make a phone call?" Ludwig asked. Toris nodded and shown him to the phone where Ludwig then dialed his brother's number. There were a few rings before the phone clicked and a voice came on the other side.

"Do you even know what _time_ it is?" Gilbert asked, half asleep.

"I know, I know. Just listen Gilbo. I think I know who he is. Does the last name 'Braginski' ring any bells?" There was a pause on the other line before Gilbert answered.

"Yeah...I think that was that fucker's name!" Ludwig had to pull the phone away from his ear because Gilbert was yelling.

"I'm living with him out here in Russia."

Loud laugher erupted on the other end. "Oh, boy, I'm _so_ glad I'm not _you_!" Gilbert laughed.

"Is there anything I should worry about besides torture?" Ludwig decided not to mention the fact that Ivan has raped Toris, another _man,_ on several occasions. He felt like his brother already knew that for some reason.

"Nope, wait, did you say _torture_?! You serious?! Damn, that guy's creepy! Just try not to die on me bro, I still have to mooch off you for beer!"

Ludwig rolled his eyes and said his goodbyes and hung up the phone. He thanked Toris for letting him use the phone to call his brother and asked him to not let Ivan know what their conversation was about him. Toris agreed, saying he's done the same thing with Feliks. Then he had to explain that Feliks was his previous lover before Ivan and that they are technically still together even though he is 'property' of Ivan. He also filled in that Raivis and Edward are his brothers from Latvia and Estonia. Ludwig never really got to know anyone else from the Baltic countries so it was a first for him. He tried to imagine what they were like but decided that he'd just have to wait until they come back from St. Petersburg.

"Sorry about last night Toris. Oh, I see you and Ludwig are getting along nicely, da?" Ivan spoke from the doorway, fully dressed and smiling. He was wearing his usual tan overcoat and pink scarf. He pushed a chair between Ludwig and Toris and sat down smiling innocently. It was a rather disturbing and confusing sight for Ludwig having heard all the stories of what he's done.

"Good morning, Ivan." Ludwig tried to speak as casual as he can, keeping his cool.

Ivan placed an arm around Ludwig. "I'll show you around Moscow and then if you want, we can go to St. Petersburg tomorrow. I have to go pick up Raivis tomorrow anyways."

Ludwig shivered and tried to move away from Ivan's arm but he was only pulled in closer. He felt extremely uncomfortable and worried but it dissipated when he received a friendly pat on the shoulder and Ivan stood up. Ivan walked over to a cabinet and pulled out a small bottle of vodka and drank it, offering some to Toris who refused to drink any. The Russian just laughed and drank the rest as he picked up his keys and put them in his pocket. After a moment of thought, he put them back and asked Toris to stay home because he was expecting something to be delivered soon. Ivan then walked to the door and asked Ludwig to come with him. Ludwig hesitated to follow the other man but then decided it was all that he could do. He found out he worried for nothing, Ivan just wanted Ludwig to wear one of his old scarves since it was cold that morning and he was sure that Ludwig wasn't used to the cold like he was. Ludwig asked if there was anything else to wear since the scarf went down to his ankles when he wore it. Ivan smiled and put a black ushanka on Ludwig's head.

"Be careful with it, I've had that one since I was a child, da." Ivan spoke softly as he put the scarf away.

Ludwig nodded and followed Ivan out to the streets of Moscow and he began to think that maybe Ivan wasn't what Toris said he was like. He actually seemed...nice. But he decided not to make that judgement permanent, there were still a couple months before he could return to Germany. He shivered at the thought. Two months living with a dangerous guy like Ivan who did _something_ to piss his brother off to want revenge. Much less, he was in enemy territory and was sure that he being watched where ever he went. He let out a heavy sigh and muttering to himself in German.

"Mein Gott, what am I going to have to _endure_?"

* * *

**Author's note:** I know I posted quickly, but I've had this already written, just needed a little editing. Oh and it's an actual poster that was issued in 1939 in Russia. Both of the people were men so, if you haven't seen that poster, then you probably wouldn't understand too much. It's one of favourites my too. haha. Oh, and many apologies to how Ivan came out, I wanted to put emphasis on how messed up and nice he is so I went with extremes. It's just my interpretation on how he'd act nicer to a guest than to Toris, sorry 'bout that! Plus, I can see Ivan as one to care for his people directly and let them live with him without any problems.

**Mein Gott **: My God (German)


	4. Chapter 4

Ch. 4

Ludwig followed Ivan around Moscow taking in the different culture and life stye. He still couldn't imagine what it was like living in a Communist country like the Soviet Union, but he would be getting a first hand look at it all. Ivan stopped by a large statue of a man and woman side by side. The man was holding up a hammer to the sky as the woman beside him was holding up a sickle. The German analyzed the piece of foreign art with the eyes of a critic, and to be brutally honest with himself, he didn't find anything wrong with it. It was a good piece of art, certainly something you wouldn't see in _his_ country but it was nice to see the difference in art in other countries.

"Worker and Kolkohznitsa," Ivan spoke aloud, breaking their silence. "It's called Worker and Kolkohznitsa."

Ludwig was a little taken aback. "I was just wondering about what it's called."

Ivan chuckled and walked away. Ludwig ran to catch up to the wandering Russian. His little tour of Moscow became a run of errands as Ivan stopped by a few stores to pick up a few things that he needed before heading back.

"Sorry, I've lived her for so long, there isn't anything really worth seeing." Ivan appologized as he was heading to a small restaurant. "Let me get lunch and we can go sit in the park and talk, da."

They sat on a bench and ate some rather bland sandwiches that had little taste despite all the ingredients within them. Ludwig hadn't expected much from the Russian, but as he looked around the city everything to him seemed a bit bland. Though, there were many colourful red flags and stars about the place and the people that Ivan had talked too seemed in good spirits, everything just seemed like an old movie. Ivan had said he wanted to talk but he didn't say a word, so Ludwig decided to break the silence.

"Did this hat mean anything to you? You said you've had it since you were little."

Ivan smiled and gently pated the hat. "Da. I used to wear it all the time, especially during winter. My sister always got worried that I'd get sick, so she gave me this scarf." Ivan pointed to his pink scarf. "It used to be her favourite, but she thought I could use it better."

"You have a sister?"

"_Dve._" Ivan spoke as he held up two fingers. "Natalia and Yekaterina."

"Well, where do they live?"

"Natalia lives in Belarus. Not sure where exactly but I'm fine not knowing. Yekaterina lives in the Ukraine and helps out on the collective farms I've helped establish out there." Ivan spoke a bit proudly. "I'm quite fond of my older sister from Ukraine. She's the one who gave me the scarf."

"What about your other sister?"

"Hate her. She scares me." Ivan quickly replied like a child refusing to eat the food they dislike. In a way, that's what Ivan had to do. He disliked his sister but when she came around he had to try to survive by trying to down anything she gave him. "She left for home a few days ago so I'm safe for a while, da."

Ludwig had to try not to laugh when Ivan claimed that he was scared of his younger sister. "What's so scary about her?"

"She's in _love_ with me."

"Wow. I know how you feel, my brother hits on me when he's drunk. I'm not even sure if he's kidding or not anymore." Ludwig sent a cold look in the general direction of Gilbert's house. Somewhere in Prussia, Gilbert sneezed and asked who was talking about him.

"Gilbert is his name, da?" Ivan spoke. "I know him." He let out a small uncharacteristic giggle. "Cute fellow, a bit odd, but cute."

Ludwig scooted away from Ivan. "Cute? Oh no, Gilbert is anything but cute." Ludwig began ranting on how he'll show up at odd times and raid his fridge for beer and get hung over and never leave his house for days. Ivan just sat and smiled the whole time and acted like he didn't hear the German ask how he knew about him and his brother.

The rest of the day went by without any odd events happening. The next day Ludwig was woken up early by Ivan.

"Come with me, da. We are taking a train to St. Petersburg." Ivan whispered as he gently shook the sleeping German awake.

"_Chto_?" Ludwig asked half awake.

"St. Petersburg." Ivan repeated as he shook Ludwig more violently.

Ludwig got up, dressed, and left with Ivan to the train. Surprisingly it was rather empty and still running. The sun was just rising when they reached their destination. Just how early _did_ Ivan wake him? Once they got off the train they headed directly to the hospital that Raivis was staying. They walked up to his room and Ivan asked Ludwig to stay outside the room for a bit; the two inside didn't know that Ludwig was going to be staying with them.

Raivis was asleep in the hospital bed and Edward was dozed off in a chair beside the bed, his glasses falling off his nose. Ivan walked up, gently patted Raivis on the head and pushed the glasses up Edward's nose. Edward's eyes fluttered open and found Ivan's smiling face just inches away.

"I-Ivan! I-I thought you wouldn't be here for another," He sputtered nervously as he paused and looked the clock mounted on the wall. "Another 5 hours!"

"I came early, da. I wanted to make sure Raivis was ok." Ivan answered as he sat on the bed. "He looks so sweet sleeping." He paused and violently shook him awake. "RAIVIS!! IT'S ME IVAN! ARE YOU DOING ALRIGHT?!" Ivan was near yelling, waking Raivis with a scream.

"RAIVIS!!" Edward cried out as his younger brother lost consciousness yet again. "Ivan, stop doing that! He's going to die one of these days if you keep it up!"

Ivan just laughed and pet Raivis on the head like you would a pet. "Aww, that would be sad."

"See, you don't want to see him dead, now do you?"

"Yes I do." Ivan chuckled as he wrapped his hands around Raivis's neck. Edward leaped up and had to force a laughing Ivan away from the unconscious Latvian. Ivan just smiled and waited for Raivis to regain consciousness agian, and when he did was was a little more gentle. "Raivis~. You doing alright? What did your doctor say?"

Raivis explained that his fainting spells have been brought on by excessive amounts of stress and it was suggested that he stays away from any stressful situations or anything that scares him. Ivan asked about his constant shaking and was a bit shocked that it wasn't constant seizures but just him shaking from pure fear.

"What scares you so much, Raivis?"

"Y-you do, sir." Raivis spoke in a near whisper as he held the bed sheets to his face as if it'll help save his life.

Ivan just stared at Raivis blankly with a smile and after a moment he spoke a bit too excitedly that it nearly gave both Edward and Raivis heart attacks. "Oh, we have a German staying with us for a couple months so play nice ok? His name is Ludwig, I brought him over so you could meet him so there are no surprises when you get home."

Ivan fetched Ludwig and brought him in, pulling him by the arm. Ludwig greeted the two noting that they were nothing like he expected. Raivis being much younger and fragile looking and Edward looking like a school teacher, but his look of nervousness, combined with his glasses made him look like a stressed out banker who realized he made a _huge_ mistake and can't fix it in anyway. They waited for the doctor to approve of releasing Raivis from the hospital. Ivan was a bit let down when the doctor suggested he stay a little longer to get rest since he was going to be in for a _long_ recovery, and it would all just go down the drain if he went back to Ivan's place. Ivan spent the rest of the day showing Ludwig around St. Petersburg and catching the train back to Moscow.

Having listened in to the whole conversation between the three men in the hostipal room, Ludwig wasn't feeling any better about having to live with Ivan. But he at least knew that he had a soft side and cared about others, through the excessive complaining about having to leave Raivis behind in the hospital and how he's going to miss him. Ludwig just had to remember that he shouldn't do anything that'll piss him off, only God knew what Ivan would do.

* * *

**Author's note: **I decided to go with transliteration of the words in Russian so that it's easier to know what Ivan is saying. But because I can, I'll add how it's actually written. My Russian is shaky and beginner at best so, if you speak it more fluently than me and notice I wrote something wrong, let me know. And if you know Ukraine's name let me know, I read that it's Yekaterina Katyusha Braginskaya so if that's wrong, let me know and I'll change it. Thank you.

**Dve (Две) **: Two (Russian)

**Chto? (Что?) **: What? (Russian)

**Edit:** Thanks you, Alisa32 for pointing out a mistake in my Russian grammar and on the name of the statue. The chapter is still the same, just minor changes to fix some errors.


	5. Chapter 5

Ch. 5

The train gently shook as hit rolled down the tracks towards Moscow. Ivan sat beside the window, eyes following the horizon as the sun was setting. They probably wouldn't get back home until early the next morning. Ivan contemplated on sleeping on the train for a little but thought that he could just get some sleep when they get home. While he was lost in his thoughts, he felt a weight on his shoulder. He turned to see what it was and found that Ludwig had fallen asleep and leaned over in his sleep. The Russian smiled. He _had_ woken the German up just hours after he fell asleep to catch the night train to St. Petersburg, so he didn't judge him for falling asleep. Ivan looked across from where they were sitting and saw a woman with her daughter who had fallen asleep in her lap as well.

"Aren't they cute?" Ivan chuckled, trying to make small talk as he wrapped an arm around the sleeping German.

The woman nodded. "Da...not to be rude but...he doesn't look Russian. Is he from another country?"

"Da." Ivan explained to her that Ludwig was from Germany and even though he's fascist, they had nothing to fear from him. It took at least half an hour to keep her from leaving and to stop fearing the sleeping blond, but it was worth it. She began talking to Ivan about how they were going to Moscow in search of work so they can get back home. Ivan had offered for her and he daughter to stay with them until they could get all the way back home. Ivan told them that they could stay in the spare rooms since the others were gone. A while after she accepted, Ivan watched the woman silently doze off before turning his attention to the sleeping man beside him.

Ivan held onto Ludwig and removed his ushanka. He placed the hat in the space between him and the window of the train and began stroking the gelled blond hair on Ludwig's head. After double checking that the woman and her daughter were asleep, Ivan began going through Ludwig's pockets, both inside and outside his jacket. After finding nothing interesting he decided to take an innocent peek beneath the jacket. When he fully unbuttoned his jacket he saw a necklace with an iron cross pendent on it. Ivan shifted his body gently so that he could undo the necklace easier and pocketed it. He had plans to bribe Ludwig with it later, and he wanted to see how long it would take him to notice it was missing. Ivan buttoned Ludwig's jacket back up and put his arm back around him and waited until they got back to Moscow.

As the train began to pull into the station in Moscow, Ivan gently shook Ludwig awake and then woke the woman and her daughter awake. They departed, Ludwig rather half asleep, and Ivan feeling rather proud of stealing Ludwig's necklace. The woman and her daughter followed them and it was only until they were almost to Ivan's house that Ludwig realized that the two were being followed.

"Ivan..." Ludwig asked as he tugged on Ivan's tan sleeve.

"Da?"

"Why are they following us?"

"Oh well, she doesn't have a place to stay and she needs a job to pay for the rest of her trip home. I offered for them to stay with us for a little while."

Ludwig stared at Ivan's smiling face. For a moment, he almost looked...motherly. "You really care about your people, huh?"

Ivan's facial expressions relaxed to a dazed smile and he spoke so soft that Ludwig barely caught what he said. "They are all I really have, da."

When they got to the house Ivan looked through the rooms to figure out where they could stay. Once he was finished he returned and frowned. "Edward locked his room and took the keys, Raivis has a small bed in his room and the only other room is the one that Ludwig is staying in." Ivan paused, receiving patient stares from the three. "You two can stay in my room."

"I don't want to impose any trou--"

Ivan cut the woman off. "There is no trouble, da. I'd be glad to."

After a short argument where Ivan tried to persuade her and her daughter to stay in his room, while Ivan stays in Raivis's, Ludwig interjected. "You can stay in mine." After saying it he quickly regretted it.

"Da. You'll stay in my room then." Ivan spoke as he pulled Ludwig close to him by his shoulder. "You can get your things. My bed is the only one big enough for two anyways."

Ludwig felt his stomach drop. "Mein Gott..." He muttered to himself as he went to get his bags. When he was leaving his room with his bags the woman thanked him and tucked her daughter in before she left to go stay in Raivis's room. He dropped his bags in Ivan's room and noticed that Ivan was undressing. He turned around and covered his eyes. "S-sorry!"

Ivan chuckled and hung up his scarf. "It's alright, da. We're both men, aren't we? Nothing to be ashamed of." He kicked off his pants and tossed them aside with his shirt so that he was only wearing his underwear. He paused and realized that Ludwig still hasn't turned around. Ivan walked over and put a hand on Ludwig's shoulder. "I won't do anything you don't want me to. Besides, we need sleep, da?"

Ludwig nodded and received a friendly pat on the shoulder before he heard Ivan crawl onto the bed.

"Just come to bed and get some sleep. Even though you slept on the train, you still missed several hours of sleep, da." Ivan patted the spot beside him as Ludwig turned around.

Ludwig nodded and dismissed himself to change in the bathroom. While he dressed in his usual tank top and boxers he realized his necklace was missing. He didn't even remember when it fell off. He let out a heavy sigh and decided to go to bed. He peeked his head into the room and saw that Ivan was already asleep, or at least looked like he was sleeping. He slowly shut the door behind him and slipped into the bed, keeping his distance from Ivan. Ludwig kept looking over his shoulder, each time seeing the same scene of Ivan's steady breathing as he slept. When he thought he was going to fall asleep, he felt Ivan shift his weight in the bed. He looked over and saw that he rolled over to his other side and was now facing him.

Despite all that he heard about Ivan, seeing how peaceful he looked as he slept he felt somewhat at ease. Ivan's face looked like that of a small child, his cheeks the normal slight pink from the cold that they have always had since they first met. Ludwig found that he reminded him of Feliciano on how peaceful he always slept when they shared a bed, but Ivan was more quiet. Ludwig smiled and rolled back over and fell asleep.

When Ludwig woke up he felt unusually warm. It felt good compared to the cold air against his face. He glanced over at the window and saw that it was open. Did Ivan always sleep with the window open? He moved to get up when he realized that there was a large arm holding him down. When he tried to get out from underneath it, he was pulled closer.

"Don't leave..." Ivan whined in his sleep.

Ludwig rolled over to try to get a better look at Ivan. He just stared at the Russian's face, his eyes moving in different directions under his eyelids and a look of desperation on his face. Ludwig felt bad. What made Ivan, this cruel yet caring (to some) Russian, whimper and fear being alone in his sleep? He gently shook Ivan awake and felt relief when he had a pair of violet eyes stared up into his.

"Hey, hey....You ok?" Ludwig asked, trying to be cautious. He didn't want to tip the Russian off in any violent direction. Ivan sat up and rubbed his eyes and looked around as if dazed.

"Is it January?" Ivan asked sleepily. He almost sounded like he was going to cry.

"No." Ludwig answered confused. "It's long past." He looked at Ivan's bare chest. He had soft pale skin and a rather large body, not necessarily fat, but not skinny.

Ivan let out a heavy sigh of relief. "Good. I was worried for a bit." He turned and smiled at Ludwig. "Let's get something to eat."

Ivan got up and dressed and left the German alone to straighten out what had happened by himself. After a while, he got dressed himself and headed out to find Ivan talking to the little girl. Ludwig watched from the doorway as Ivan shown her how to make breakfast. He smiled and wanted to join them but didn't know how to cook any Russian dishes for the life of him. Toris stumbled by from his room and pulled Ludwig aside.

"So you two got back last night?" The Lithuanian asked as he pulled his hair back in a pony tail.

Ludwig nodded. "We arrived around 3 in the morning." He glanced back at Ivan and the girl. "He gets along with children well, doesn't he?"

Toris chuckled. "Yeah. He got upset once when I told him that we can't have kids."

"He asked you for kids?"

"Yeah," Toris laughed. "I told him that two men can't have kids and he got depressed. He told me he wanted to have a huge family where everyone loved each other. And once he had that, they would go move somewhere warm and live where sunflowers grow."

Ludwig looked back at Ivan with a new sense of sympathy. "It seems understandable. It's so cold here." He paused and then added. "Is that why he cared for his people so much?"

Toris shrugged. "As long as I've known him, he's always cared about them, it was only until when I told him he can't have kids that he took up in directly caring for them. When I asked him why, he said, 'they are the only children I'll ever have, even if they aren't mine.'"

Ivan smiled and held up the completed dish with the girl who smiled and thanked him with a hug. He patted her head and asked her to set the table. They seemed so energetic and whole that if you didn't know him, you would have thought they were biological family. Ludwig smiled with a new set of fondness for his Russian host.

* * *

**Author's Note: **hoped you like this one as the others. Sorry if Ivan seems like an amorphous blob of evil and childish innocence, but we all know that's how he is on the inside. I can always see him as a motherly type, don't like it, I'm sorry. Russia _is_ known as the Motherland after all!


	6. Chapter 6

Ch. 6

After breakfast, Ivan spent most of the day making calls to various businesses, shops, and factories. After a while, he apologized to the woman that all he could find for her was a job in a factory towards the edge of the city limits, but assured her the pay was good. After she thanked him, he gave her the hours she'll be working and arranged for Toris to drive her back and forth from work at the factory. The woman spent time getting a good feel for Moscow as Ludwig helped Toris clean. After a while, Ludwig was reading one of his books in the kitchen when he realized he hasn't seen Ivan for quite awhile. He went on a search for him and found him in a small study reading a book.

Ivan looked up from his book and saw Ludwig watching from the doorway. He smiled and gestured him to come in and sit in the other chair. Ludwig pulled the chair up closer to Ivan and leaned over to see the book he's reading.

"What are you reading? You looked really into it." Ludwig spoke as he stared down into the pages of the rather small book. Ivan just smiled.

"It's the Communist Manifesto. You wanna take a peek, da?" Ivan shut the book and handed it to Ludwig who had a shocked look on his face.

"Your place..." He pointed to the book that was shut in the middle with no page marker.

"I've read it before. Take it."

Ludwig took the book and flipped through the pages as Ivan gave him a quick summary of it's contents and what it's about. The only thing that shocked Ludwig was the name of the Author.

"Karl Marx..." Ludwig read aloud.

"And Friedrich Engels." Ivan finished.

"Those are German names."

"Da. I have their other works with my other books." Ivan gestured to a bookcase.

Ludwig handed the book back to Ivan and scanned the books. Most of them were political and as he would later find out, the rest were stories that took place in some warm area with sunflowers or where it rarely snows. There were several books with German names, and he was shocked that Ivan seemed to be an avid reader of German works, either political or was merely published by German publishers. Some books were old, their pages darkened with age and felt like they'll fall apart in your hands. He found it quite surprising that Ivan was the type to sit and read books on his spare time. Ludwig spun around to find that Ivan had been watching him go through all his books. He went to apologize, but Ivan held up a hand and declared that there was no need.

"I didn't know you read anything German. A few were actually _in_ German. Can you--"

"Da. I can speak several languages, though I prefer to speak Russian." He gave Ludwig a cold look. "But it doesn't mean you can talk to me in German. If you do..." Ivan tossed his book on the desk and walked over to Ludwig, towering over the German. He flashed him a rather innocent smile that accompanied violet eyes that reflected a hunger for violence. "..._no one_ could save you."

There was a long silence with a heavy feeling weighed down with Ivan's dark aura. Ludwig's heart began to pound; he felt fear. Genuine fear. In all the wars and battles he's been in, he never felt this. But why now? Why in this small study surrounded with books with German authors and joyous settings in summer? Why to the man who looked so innocent and so at peace in his sleep? The same one who cried out for him not to leave in his sleep? Ivan smiled and the aura let up and the fear dissipated leaving a strange residual feeling in Ludwig's chest.

"Well, they could always try." Ivan said innocently as he turned and walked to the door. "You want to try some Russian vodka? I'll keep the strong stuff for when you're more used to it. Not many people can handle strong vodka like me. Especially foreigners, da."

Ludwig nodded as he followed Ivan to the cabinet that nearly over flowed with different vodka. It reminded him of himself a little, except you would find an arsenal of beer instead of vodka, and usually it would be emptied within hours when his brother shown up. Ivan pulled out a bottle and two glasses and set them on the table. He pulled a chair up beside the one he sat in and motioned Ludwig to have a seat with him. When he sat down he was handed a glass half full of vodka while Ivan filled his to the rim. Ludwig watched as Ivan downed the full glass in seconds and began to fill it a second time.

Ivan turned to Ludwig and smiled. "Drink, drink. It's good, da!"

Ludwig nodded, not wanting to seem like he can't handle any liquor, he downed it just has fast as Ivan. He felt dizzy the moment he did and swayed gently in his seat. Ivan picked up the bottle and stared at the label.

"Oh oops. I brought out the strong stuff. Just be careful when you drink, da?" Ivan turned and smiled as he patted Ludwig on the shoulder. "This is 95% alcohol."

Ludwig nodded, the dizziness slowly residing. "Makes sense. The strongest beer I've had was 70%." Ivan let out a loud laugh, like someone just told him the world's funniest joke. "What?"

Ivan shook his head. "Vodka is better than beer . . . What's German beer like?"

"Good, you should have some if you ever go to Germany." Ludwig spoke as he poured himself another half glass. He didn't want to be out drunk by anyone, even if he wasn't used to the vodka. The drinking games with Gilbert made him that way; Ludwig always won, he couldn't afford to loose. "You can stay with me if you do." The last part came out as a slip before he took a few slow sips of the vodka.

Ivan stared down at his empty glass and didn't say anything, his face rather hard to read. Then again, it could be the vodka blurring Ludwig's vision that made it hard to decipher his expression. Just as he was going to ask what was wrong, Ivan spoke out in a near whisper.

"No one's ever asked me to go over to their house before."

"Really? I don't see why, you're not that bad of a person." Ludwig answered, patting Ivan's back to cheer him up. He was only being half honest but he knew it would make him feel better. From what he observed, Ivan wasn't that bad of a person, he was quite lovable. Lovable? Yes, he was like a child himself and just as lovable. The only thing that disturbed him was what he said in the study and the stories he's heard.

"But I am..." Ivan spoke with a smile. Even with the smile, it didn't hide the hurt in him. His eyes had a look of guilt.

"You mean with what happened with Toris?" Ludwig asked, quickly worrying if he said something wrong after he didn't get a reply.

"So you found out already, huh? It doesn't matter, da." Ivan said, more energetically. "Especially if you promise that I can come visit."

"Sure, anytime." Ludwig answered, removing his hand from his back. After that, Ludwig only drank a little more vodka when he knew Ivan was watching him. They talked about the different wars they've been through and a strange dislike for their bosses. Ludwig told Ivan that it was hard for him to understand what his boss had planned, but had the strangest feeling that it would jeopardize the entire country _and_ the Reich that he wants to build. Feeling the need to contribute Ivan explained how he had several sleepless nights through Stalin's Great Terror, suffering from nightmares about his people. This faint connection, the dislike of watching their people suffer or die, made Ludwig feel more open with Ivan.

"So..." Ludwig finished his glass and set it down. "How did you know my name? And my brother's?" He turned towards Ivan.

"Come with me. I'll show you, da." Ivan got up and headed into his room. Ludwig followed him and sat on the bed beside him. He opened a drawer and pulled out a folder and handed it to Ludwig. Curiously, Ludwig took it and opened it and was astonished that it had every detail of his life scribbled neatly in Russian on various pages, complete with pictures. When was someone spying on him to acquire such information? "I've been working on figuring out a system to get information on everyone so that there is _nothing_ I don't know." Ivan spoke rather proudly. "But I still need to work it out, da?"

"It's pretty accurate..." Ludwig muttered as he found a picture of Italy sleeping in the same bed as him. "Just, don't show these pictures to anyone."

"I won't. Even Toris doesn't know that I have it, and I tell him everything, da."

Ludwig handed the folder back and Ivan put it away. Ludwig decided that now is a good time to see how Ivan knew his brother. If it was through excessive spying or something else.

"Ivan, you know my brother, right?"

"Gilbert? Da. I know him." Ivan chuckled, a look in his eyes told Ludwig that he was remembering rather clearly. "Why do you want to know?"

Ludwig laughed. "What did you do to piss him off? Past couple weeks, he hasn't shut up about you."

"He didn't tell you anything?" Ivan asked, giving Ludwig a shocked and hurt look. Ludwig shook his head. "Well, I can see why. What hasn't he shut up about?"

"He wants me to help him get back at you for something that I don't even know. For all I know, whatever happened, he deserved it." Ludwig chuckled as he leaned back on the bed. After a moment he turned to Ivan, "What _did_ happen?"

Ivan scooted closer to Ludwig and let out a small laugh that warned him that he was in for quite a story.

"Well, I decided to go to some bar somewhere in Europe to get away from work for a bit. I hate doing manual labour in Siberia." Ivan let out a shiver, remembering the biting cold and months of work that worn him to exhaustion. "I was just sitting by myself drinking some rather cheap vodka since they didn't have anything good, and this Hungarian woman came up to me. She said, 'You see that Prussian over there? I want you to do me a huge favour!' So I agreed to help her out and what she wanted me to do was get material to blackmail him with, da. When I asked what kind of material, she handed me a key and told me that I had to take him to a certain room to 'sleep' with him. I didn't know what sleeping had to do with anything but I agreed anyway. Though after she mentioned that there will be camera's and that she'll try to keep my face out of the shot I knew she was talking about sex, da." Ivan let out a humble laugh. "The plan was to get him drunk and take him out there, but he had to be willing, I couldn't go force him into anything because then it wouldn't be worth using as blackmail, da. He was already drunk but not drunk enough so I bought him a few rounds and decided to warm him up to it."

Ludwig was blushing as Ivan explained it, he didn't know that it had anything to do with sex, but he had a feeling it did. He decided to go ask Elizabeta if she still had the video.

"So...what do you mean by 'warm him up to it'?" Ludwig shakily asked.

Ivan grinned and scooted closer, his arm supporting him behind Ludwig's back, and brought his face close and whispered in his ear. "Like this." He placed a hand on Ludwig's knee and gently petted it. "I told him how _cute_ he looked drunk. That I was glad he let me buy him his drinks. So, I told him if there was anything else he needed, like..." He moved his hand farther up Ludwig's leg. "...this, I would be more than happy to help him with. He asked, 'like what?' So I told him what I would do to him. How I'd kiss him anywhere he asked." Ivan spoke as he planted a small kiss below his ear. "How I could be as gentle as he wants..." He gently brushed against the inside of Ludwig's thigh. "...or as rough as he wants." He cupped Ludwig's crotch and gave a firm squeeze causing the German to utter out a small moan. Ivan smiled and paused in his story.

"What...?" Ludwig asked shakily, slightly disturbed that we was being felt up by Ivan, yet at the same time, he had no complaint.

"Nothing..."Ivan said as he moved his hand away. He continued to mention all the things he told Gilbert that night they met at the bar. Ludwig's only sound response was to blush and silently listen. He never had anyone talk to him, or even try to touch him like this before, besides Gilbert when he was drunk, but this time he was enjoying it. He _literally_ was enjoying it. Every soft whisper in his ear where Ivan's lips gently brushed against his skin, every stroke on his leg that threatens to get close to his growing erection. His eyes shut as he visualized all that Ivan was saying, which no longer sounded like a story on how he met his brother. Then right in the middle of it all, he stopped talking. It took Ludwig a few seconds to keep his voice from shaking long enough to talk.

"Then what did you say? You just stopped..."

"Well, comrade, I didn't say anything else after that," Ivan chuckled.

"You didn't? Why?"

"He came. Right there in his pants, he came."

"How do you know that he...?"

"Because he grabbed my arm like this," Ivan said as he held onto Ludwig's arm. "Then let out a sound like this." Ivan pressed his body against Ludwig's shoulder and let out a deep moan that sent the remaining blood rushing south. He was almost tempted to hear the sound again, but kept his comment to himself.

"Then what happened?"

"What do you think? He pushed me away, called me a sick sick man and that he can't believe I 'would so such a thing to the awesome Gilbert'. Then he ran out of the bar swearing, da."

"Well, serves him right." Ludwig quickly replied. "Sorry he was trouble."

"Oh no, it wasn't any trouble at all." Ivan leaned over and cupped Ludwig's cheek and peered into his yes. "His face when he came was worth it all. Your's will look better, da?" Ludwig tried to protest but nothing came out, his voice failed on him. "I know that I had the same effect on you. I can help, da. Oh but it would be your first time, da?"

"H-how do you know?!" Ludwig asked, shocked that he knew the most personal part of his life.

"I am all knowing," Ivan joked as he tapped his head. "You want me to be gentle?"

Ludwig could see the fabled shoulder angels, one yelling at him to run away while he still has his dignity, the other...just ignoring the situation and reading a book, not caring what happened. There was no help there, so he nodded, making the angel freak out even more, at least until the other one threw the book at him and they both disappeared.

Ivan merely smiled and gave Ludwig a gentle kiss and suggested he move farther on the bed. He nodded and did as we has told, like the obedient soldier he was. Ivan laid between his Ludwig's legs and leaned in to kiss him. He began to grind into him, making him moan from the pressure. The moment his mouth opened, Ivan slipped his tongue inside. Ludwig snapped to his senses and pushed Ivan just far enough that their mouths separated. Ivan just peered down with a smile.

"Something wrong?" The grinning Russian asked. Ludwig covered his mouth and looked away, a blush spreading across his face. He's been kissed before, by Feliciano, but never like _this_. "If you don't want me to..." Ivan continued slightly disappointed. Ludwig shook his head. "So I can, da?"

Ludwig still looked away and sure enough the angels were back. The angel was rubbing his head. "Go ahead, I don't care. Loose your dignity and let the vodka get to your head!"

Ludwig looked at the second one in black who was reading the book again. "Go for it. Nothing wrong with it. It'll hurt a bit, but hey, it'll be a good kind of hurt."

"Don't encourage him!" And before Ludwig knew it, the little hallucinations disappeared in a brawl and he was left to decide what to do. He suddenly felt like he should stop, despite the situation in his pants. He didn't want to upset Ivan or provoke him to rape so he decided to coax Ivan to stop.

"Aren't you with Toris?" Ludwig asked, hoping that Ivan was the type who treasured relationships.

Ivan's face sunk to a sorrowful frown. "Yeah...but, he doesn't love me."

Ludwig felt a pit of regret in his stomach, immediately regretting that he asked. Just outside the door, Toris balanced several documents that he needed to get approved by Ivan. He halted in the tracks when he heard Ludwig's voice coming from Ivan's room.

"How do you know that? Maybe he--"

"No. He never really loved me, even though I loved him."

"Are you sure?"

"Da. He's been cheating on me." Ivan hung his head, no longer in the mood due to Ludwig's question. The regret built up and Ludwig ran through as many scenarios to cheer him up. He didn't like seeing him upset, and to know it's his fault. "At least you're loved."

Finally Ludwig, fuzzily, remembered something that Feliciano did when his brother was upset. He decided to give it a try, he had nothing to loose. He reached up and held Ivan's face, a bit awkwardly, and peered in his eyes. "Don't say that." Realizing what he was doing, he stopped and dropped his hands to his side, but it seemed to work, Ivan had a comforted smile. Ivan leaned in and gave Ludwig a kiss on the cheek.

"Thanks. But even though I know he cheats on me, I won't leave him. Toris is the only one that I have been able to tell everything to. He was the only one I trust, da."

Outside the room Toris bit his lip and felt bad. He knew he was seeing Feliks secretly behind Ivan's back, but it was usually to screw in a light bulb or something. He simply turned around and decided to give him the papers later. Inside, Ludwig found himself receiving light kisses, this time of thanks. At least, until Ivan shoved his hand into his pants causing him to cry out from sudden the contact.

"You thought I forgot, da?" Ivan smirked. How did he get into the mood after sudden depression?! Ludwig will never know, but didn't care. He was getting what he secretly wanted. Ivan removed his hand and undone Ludwig's pants and pulled them down as he slipped his other hand up his shirt. Ludwig kicked his pants off and fumbled with Ivan's coat, only to have his hand slapped away. He gave Ivan a confused look who ignored it and finished undressing him. Ivan began to grind into Ludwig as he kissed the corners of his lips. Ludwig could feel Ivan's own erection through the pants between them which reminded him that he was with a man and that even if he wanted he couldn't pretend he was with a woman. Ludwig shifted his head so that Ivan got his lips, gently flicking his tongue across his lips, to see that the German wouldn't freak out again. Ludwig allowed him to kiss him as deeply as he wanted. He stopped grinding into him and slowly moved his hand up and down Ludwig's cock, getting soft moans from the German. Every time he gave a firm squeeze, Ludwig bucked into his hand wanting more, moaning deeply into his mouth.

Ivan sat up and spread Ludwig's legs with his knees, keeping his movement with the other hand. He watched Ludwig as he coated his own finger with saliva. Once it was wet enough he let his hand trail down lower to Ludwig's entrance. He looked up at Ivan just in time to see his second hand travel lower, far lower. His heart jumped and he panicked. He grabbed a hold of Ivan's hand and stared up at him with wide eyes. Ivan just responded by smiling and kissing his nose.

"Don't worry. I've done this before, da." Ivan reassured the German. "All you need to do is relax. You can do that, da?"

Ludwig stared at Ivan for a moment before letting go of his hand. Ivan smiled and whispered comforting words as he pressed his finger into Ludwig. Ludwig immediately wanted out of this, he didn't like it one bit. It felt too strange, too weird, and he still couldn't think straight. Straight. A funny word he'll probably never be after this, or at least won't see himself as. After all, what straight man lets another man do something as horr--

Ludwig gasped as something deep within him was struck, sending hot waves through his body. He looked at Ivan's smiling face.

"Found it~" Ivan cooed as he continued to probe Ludwig's sweet spot making the German moan for more. Ivan inserted a second digit into Ludwig. "Oh no no no, don't tighten up. Relax, it feels good, da?"

Ludwig nodded as he relaxed his muscles as the two fingers began to spread apart inside him, stretching, probing, leaving and returning. Then they disappeared and he felt Ivan's weight shifting between his legs. When he went to see what he was doing, his view was blocked by the Russian's face as he kissed him. "Now comes the fun part."

_'Fun part?' _Ludwig thought just before he felt Ivan press something hard and--

"Mein Gott!" Ludwig cried out as Ivan pushed his length into him, letting the German slip from his lips.

"What did I say about speaking German? I'll let it go this time, as long as you relax or else you're going to get hurt." Ivan chuckled as he began to press himself deeper into Ludwig. The more that Ludwig relaxed, the more Ivan pushed into him, slowly thrusting into his guest. Once the awkwardness and pain set aside, Ludwig was moaning again. Every time that Ivan brushed against his prostate his let out a moan loud enough that it could be heard out into the halls. And each time he heard his voice carry itself towards the door, Ludwig felt embarrassed. He covered his mouth and bit onto his hand, anything to keep his voice down as he unconsciously began rocking his hips into Ivan's. Ivan began to pay attention to Ludwig's forgotten member, pumping it in time with his increasing thrusts. Within moments, Ludwig could feel himself drawing far too close to his climax. He moved his hands away from his mouth and wrapped them around Ivan's neck as he came.

"Ivan!" Ludwig cried out as he came on their stomaches. A few more thrusts later and Ivan joined him, spilling into Ludwig. Ludwig laid on the bed trying to catch his breath as Ivan pulled his pants back up and got off the bed. Not wanting to be left there like some spent whore, Ludwig grabbed Ivan by the arm. "Where are you going?"

"To make sure no one witnessed, we left the door open, da." Ivan gestured to the open door. "But I can stay."

Ludwig looked down and noticed that his cum had also gotten onto Ivan's shirt. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean too..." He pointed to the shirt.

Ivan just smiled. "I needed something to keep the memory." Ludwig smiled nervously and laid back down, adjusting himself so he was on his side of the bed. Shortly later he fell asleep with Ivan gently wiping the strands of blond hair that had fallen onto Ludwig's forehead. Once he was sure he was asleep he got out of bed and pulled out the iron cross necklace and wondered if he should give it back now or later. He hung up the shirt somewhere where even Toris wouldn't find and went to bed himself.

* * *

**Author's note:** I haven't written anything graphic in a while, at least not by myself, so I'm really _really_ rusty. I tried my best and I hope it was good enough. Sorry if it's a bit vague, next one should be better. The thing on Ivan reading German works was that a book I have read by Trotsky was also published in a German edition. I have also read that there was an article published that a majority of the Bolsheviks were actually German. I'm not entirely sure about the accuracy of the sources are but it was worth noting. It seems that Germany and Russia have some actual connections throughout history to today. (I apologize if Ludwig is a little OOC but he _is_ drunk off of vodka at the moment)


	7. Chapter 7

Ch. 7

Ludwig woke up and winced at the sunlight streaming in from the window. His head pounded and his body ached. It has been a while since he's had a hangover and what a hangover this was! He felt like he had tanks rolling over his head, firing every second in his ears. He held his head and groaned as he rolled away from the window and hit something large and soft. He opened an eye and saw that he elbowed Ivan in the chest, waking him. Ivan opened his eyes just enough that you can see the odd violet colour and stared at Ludwig for a moment. He smiled, rolled over, and went back to sleep, all before Ludwig could apologize for waking him. He went through his usual routine with hangovers: try to piece together what happened. All he could remember was talking to Ivan and him showing him an entire folder of information on him. Everything _else_ was a blur. He decided it would be a good idea to get something for his head, he was sure Ivan had some medication for hangovers with the amount of vodka in the house. He sat up and winced at the sudden pain in both his head and--

He pulled the sheets up and realized that he was completely free of clothes. He blushed and his heart began to pound and he looked at the sleeping Russian beside him. He did what had to be a 20-take from himself and Ivan. Curiosity caused him to see if Ivan was wearing anything. He let out a sigh when Ivan was wearing boxers, so they couldn't have...Despite the pounding in his head he tried harder to remember what happened and assess the situation. His body ached and felt, _spent_. He didn't know how to put his finger on the description, the people in his head rummaging through miles of filing cabinets to find the right word. All they could find was: different. He wondered if Ivan knew what happened last night.

He stood up and wobbled to where his clothes had been tossed on the floor. Why did his ass hurt? He didn't want to admit what popped in his mind, it _couldn't_ be what happened. He slipped on his pants and wandered into the hall, holding onto his head and his backside. When he left the room he bumped into Toris and nearly knocked him over.

After wincing from the pain of the impact that bounced in his head he apologized. Toris stood up and simply smiled.

"Oh no, it's alright. I wasn't paying attention. I was just going to make breakfast."

Ludwig nodded and followed Toris to the kitchen and rested his head on the cold table. Oh, how it felt so good on his throbbing head. Toris handed him a glass of water and a few painkillers. Ludwig took them gratefully rested his head on the cool table once again.

"Ivan still asleep?" Toris asked as he pulled out some bread to make some toast.

Ludwig nodded. "I accidently woke him up by elbowing him."

Toris smiled. "He does like to get close when sleeping in the same bed. So he just went back to sleep?"

Ludwig nodded again. "He smiled at me though before I could apologize for hitting him."

Toris froze in his spot and dropped the bread on the floor. After a moment he nervously picked it off the floor. "Oh clumsy me! I dropped the bread!" And went back to preparing breakfast without another word. When Ludwig asked Toris why he suddenly became so quiet all he could say was, "You must have done something that he liked." And went back to cooking.

Ludwig began thinking about what happened and what the Lithuanian had said. He _did_ know Ivan far better than he did, so he _had_ to have some form of idea what happened, or at least what Ivan was smiling about. Ludwig rubbed his temples as he struggled to clear up last night's events. God, he hated hangovers that made it hard to remember what happened. After bringing an onslaught of pain in his head from thinking to hard a few images cleared up. And suddenly, the aches, the tiredness, and the feeling of being 'different' suddenly made snese. They were small but they cleared things up and confirmed what he had wished wasn't true. He could remember Ivan kissing him deeply, his hands probing him where he's never been touched before, and him screaming his name. He blushed and covered his face.

"Oh nein nein nein!" He repeated to himself. At that moment Ivan walked in dressed and smiling, like absolutely nothing happened.

"Good morning." He chimed in as he pat Ludwig on the shoulder. Ludwig didn't answer and looked away, seeing Ivan's face made the images come back. For the rest of that day he went on without talking, as was the next day. He only spoke to Toris and no one else. Ivan ignored him, which he had hoped he would, and focused on the woman and her daughter. Edward had shown up and tried to talk to Ludwig about how his stay in Moscow as going but was only answered by him uncharacteristically blushing and storming out of the room. (He later left that day back to St. Petersburg with some extra clothes for Raivis.) Each night Ludwig had done his best to avoid his Russian host, by eating faster when he shown up for any meal and going to bed either early or after he was sure Ivan was asleep. Then on what would be the third night of avoiding Ivan like he had the plague, he decided to break his silence.

He was lying in bed, struggling to put together what to ask Ivan about the night he had gotten drunk. And as if on cue, Ivan walked into the room and changed for bed. Once he lied down on the bed, Ludwig leaned over and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Ivan, we need to talk." Ludwig spoke in a strict tone. It came out colder and more awkward than he had wanted, like a groom telling his betrothed that he's leaving her on the day of their wedding. Ivan gave Ludwig a perplexed look before a smile of relief.

"Da. I was wondering if we would never talk again." Ivan let out another sigh of relief as he rolled over onto his side so he was facing Ludwig directly, peering into his blue eyes. "What is it you want to talk about?"

"Do you remember what happened the other night?"

Ivan grinned. "Of course."

Ludwig sent a glare. "It was a fluke, you can't tell anyone about that..."

"Of course not." Ivan gently brushed Ludwig's golden hair, only to have his hand slapped away.

"I'm not a bottom." Ludwig hissed. "And no one can know that I did..._that..._with another guy."

"Or that I was your first? You know, you were asking for it by focusing too much on work and war, da?" Ivan teased as he poked Ludwig's nose. Ludwig sharpened his glare.

"Yes...I know." He growled. Ivan was extremely pleased that he has finally gotten Ludwig to show his true colours. Sleeping with him was just an added bonus while taking his virginity was the grand prize. "I was drunk so it doesn't count."

"But it _did_ happen and you know you liked it." Ludwig just frowned and rolled over. After piecing it all together he couldn't deny that at the moment, he did want it. But that doesn't mean he can't refuse to acknowledge it with every cell in his body. Ivan placed his hand on Ludwig's shoulder and scooted closer. Ludwig tried to shrug him off but it only made Ivan wrap his arm around him. "And if you ever want do do it again, I'll be here, da."

Ivan backed away and rolled over with his back to Ludwig. They both just laid there wondering what the other was thinking and if the rest of Ludwig's days in Moscow would continue to be awkward. After a while, Ivan broke the silence again.

"You got a letter from your boss the other day."

"Why didn't you tell me?!" Ludwig nearly yelled as he sat up and glared down at Ivan.

"You weren't talking to me _and_ you were avoiding me." Ivan sounded hurt and even pulled the covers over his shoulders like he was trying to hide.

Ludwig let out a heavy sigh and rubbed his temples. "I _suppose_ I was asking for that...Can I have the letter?"

"Not now...I'll give it to you in the morning, da."

Ludwig and Ivan didn't exchange any more words, if Ludwig had tried he would simply be ignored. The next morning, keeping his word, Ivan handed Ludwig the letter that came in for him. He didn't even try to hide the fact that he resealed it because he read it before he gave it to Ludwig. Ludwig frowned at the contents.

_'...Get close to him, we are going to make a pact with Russia...'_

He ripped up the paper and tossed it in the nearest trash can. Ivan just stared at him with a straight face. After pacing around the room for a moment, and when Toris left to take the woman to work, Ludwig spoke to Ivan, pointing an accusing finger at him.

"Did you know about this when you--"

Ivan shook his head. "It came in the next morning. But the timing couldn't have been any better, da?" He joked.

Ludwig felt like ripping out his hair and flipping the table in frustration, but kept in mind he's a guest and should be 'civilized'. After a few breaths he answered, "So what happened was just because of the vodka, right?"

"Well, I was sober. It takes a lot to get me drunk, da." Ivan pointed out. He was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, watching the upset German compulsively walk in a fixed path. "I can't say much for you. _You_ can blame the vodka, but I can't. Then again, I wanted to anyways." He flashed Ludwig a cute smile, or what _was_ supposed to be a cute smile, but came out more of a threatening grin.

Ludwig didn't look in his direction and kept pacing. His behavour began to worry Ivan so he took a few steps forward.

"Maybe you should calm down, we can't control what our bosses want. I got a letter saying the same thing from Comrade Stalin. Have a look for yourself, da." Ivan spoked as he pulled a crumpled piece of paper from his pocket. Ludwig took it and read it 4 times over before handing it back, taking a deep breath and finally relaxing. The date was just a day after the one on his letter so it was after the incident. "You feeling better, da?"

Ludwig shook his head. "It makes me wonder if they knew, they sent these messages after _it_ happened." Ivan just shrugged. "So what should we do? Thinking about this logically, we should remain as friends at the least, anything more and it might get complicated."

Ivan looked up at the ceiling and saw a small crack and frowned. He didn't want to be 'just friends' but if it was as far as he could go for now, he'll have to persuade him again, or get him drunk again for more. Which ever works faster. "I guess..."

Ludwig looked at Ivan who hasn't taken his eyes of the small crack in the ceiling. He looked lost, distant. His eyes had a mix of disappointment and sadness. "Did you actually want something between us?"

Ivan looked at Ludwig and smiled. "Kind of silly, da?"

"But we only met a week ago."

Ivan shook his head. "We briefly met during the World War, remember? I was too busy suffering from the revolution going on, I had to have our troops pull out of the war, da."

"That was you? I'm sorry I didn't recognize you."

Ivan raised a hand. "There was no reason to remember. But when I saw you fighting the others, I couldn't help but want to know you better. But I was too busy to, da." Ludwig nodded and watched as Ivan looked back up at the crack on the ceiling. "You'll never know what I really had to deal with. What I had to watch happen to my people then." Ivan's eyes began to tear up and his voice cracked. "To hear their cries muffled by gunfire." His eyes grew more distant as the events of Bloody Sunday returned the more he revealed.

Ludwig placed a hand on Ivan's shoulder to calm him down. Ivan just smiled at him with tearful eyes that spoke of whispered horrors of centuries. Ludwig had a sense of understanding having been part of many bloody battles himself, he still felt that his wars couldn't compare to whatever Ivan had endured. Ivan wiped away his tears off his cheeks and thanked Ludwig, though on what he was thanking for was unknown. It could have been the kind gesture or it could have been that he hasn't given him any odd looks.

"I'm sorry," Ludwig spoke to him in an attempt of a soft comforting voice. Ivan smiled even more and hugged him.

"Please don't tell Toris I cried just now. He gets so worried about me sometimes."

Ivan held Ludwig in a tight hug which felt awkward since Ludwig had selfishly decided to keep a safe distance from the Russian. With the current events, it seemed that he wasn't safe enough to be left alone and Ludwig found himself wondering how Ivan felt on the inside on a daily basis. He gave him an awkward pat on the back that felt more congratulatory than comforting. Ivan backed up, looked Ludwig over for a moment and smiled.

"You're nice." His voice back to it's normal child-like tone. If Ludwig wasn't used to this already, he would have mistaken Ivan talking for the little girl staying with him, even though his voice wasn't _that_ high.

Ludwig gave Ivan a nervous smile and wandered out of the room saying something about wondering where the girl went. Ivan stayed behind and took off Ludwig's iron cross which he has been wearing and placed it in his pocket. He wondered if we would be mad if he kept it for so long. He followed after Ludwig and caught him talking to her about Germany.

"So, Germans aren't bad people?" She asked, craning her neck to see Ludwig's face. Realizing that he was much taller than her, he got down on his knee so that they were at eye level.

"No, we are just 'different'. Why? What did you hear about us?" Ludwig asked.

"That you're drunken barbarians and war crazy fascists who don't care about the treatment of others."

"Oh really?" Ludwig felt hurt by the description. Propaganda really goes for the worst doesn't it? "Well, the fascist thing is right at the moment, but I'm not barbaric. My brother maybe, but I'm not, and I care about others. I just have trouble showing it." He tried to give her a comforting pat on the head but she backed away from him, wary of his intentions.

"That's not it. Do you care about other people who _aren't _German?"

Ludwig thought about a moment. "My best friend is Italian. I care about him, even though he gets on my nerves."

"Yeah but he's fascist too, so that doesn't count! Can you care about others like us?"

"You mean communists?"

The girl nodded. Ludwig felt pinned, he didn't have a response to what she had asked. Ivan just stood in the doorway silently listening, he himself curious what Ludwig has to say. Ludwig rubbed the back of his neck and thought hard. It as hard talking to a child because they wouldn't understand the concept of conflicting ideologies, military alliances, propaganda, and indoctrination.

"I suppose. I haven't seen anything wrong with them. To me, you're different."

The girl had a thoughtful look on her face for a moment before smiling. "Ok! So not _all_ Germans are bad, just 'different', right?"

"Exactly!" Ludwig tried to match the girl's cheerfulness but sounded more like an officer giving an order. "We're just different but we have some things in common to."

The girl nodded. "You're nice." Her words reflected Ivan's, with the same tone and smile, it was almost creepy. Ludwig almost laughed. "Like Mr. Braginski." She tilted her head to the side and added, "Do you think he's a nice person too?"

"He seems likable. He helped you and your mother didn't he?"

She shook her head. "No, that's not it. I heard you two arguing a while ago saying you should only be friends."

The colour drained from Ludwig's face. He hadn't expected her to have over heard. "Well, it wouldn't hurt to have him as a friend. What's wrong with just being friends?" He felt panicked and wondered if she knew what they were really talking about.

"Well, you two wouldn't talk for a while and then you started yelling earlier. So I thought you didn't like him, because you were mad at him for something."

"I yelled? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell, I just got frustrated..." Ludwig stood up and rubbed the back of his neck again. He wasn't used to talking to kids and wondered how Ivan could be so warm and gentle to people when he himself has been described as a cold hearted sadist by those close to him. Ivan decided it would be good to walk in at the moment and break up the awkward moment Ludwig was obviously not enjoying.

"Ludwig, I found this," Ivan lied as he pulled the pendant from his pocket. "It was under the bed."

"How'd it get there?" Ludwig questioned as he took it from Ivan's hand. Ivan shrugged and said that he probably kicked it under there when it fell off. "Funny, the chain isn't broken. Oh well, at least I have it back. I suppose I need to thank you some how huh?" Ludwig had a worried look on his face, he knew Ivan would want something. "I'm not going to repeat what happened."

"Oh no of course not! Just you know, let me come over to your house sometime." Ivan smiled. "You did promise."

"I did? Well I was drunk." Ludwig added. "But fine." Ivan clapped his hands and declared that he should buy something sweet in celebration. Ludwig passed on the sweets while Ivan and the girl got hyped up on sugar, though Ivan's sugar rush didn't last as long as the girl's, which Ludwig never caught her name, and included a lot of hugging that hurt so much he almost swore he broke a rib or five.

The next few weeks have went by relatively similar. Ivan would keep the girl company while Ludwig helped himself to the collection of German books that Ivan had acquired over the years. Toris continued to drive the woman back and forth from the factory and Edward still accompanied Raivis on his recovery in the hospital. Ivan and Ludwig didn't talk about the drunken night and it was nearly a forgotten memory. They went on with their lives and it all seemed like Ludwig's been there for years. The little flubs in his Russian became clear and he was slowly loosing his German accent. Even though he grown used to living in Moscow, he wanted to get back to Berlin and he was actually beginning to miss his brother and Feliciano. Though at times, Ivan covered for both of them with awkward phrases that made him feel uncomfortable and hugs out of nowhere.

He watched Ivan scare Toris with a random hug once. It was very painful to watch. Ivan towered above them both, but when he grabbed Toris in a hug, he got him around the neck and picked him up like it was nothing. Poor Toris was struggling to breath and break free. He was cutting vegetables at the time too, so when Ivan grabbed him, he freaked and cut himself so his hand was gushing blood; Ivan didn't even seem to notice. After it looked like Toris was about to pass out from lack of oxygen, Ivan roughly dropped him and giggled like a little kid who just found out the joys of burning ants with a magnifying glass. Toris fell to the ground with a thud and was gasping for air as Ivan just pointed and laughed saying "I got you!" and "You're so fun to hug!" After Toris managed to catch his breath he calmly got up and bandaged his hand like it was nothing, no crying from the pain, no freaking out from blood loss, nothing. He even joined in with a nervous laugh as he cleaned up his blood off the counter and floor. Ludwig felt terrified at the sight and wondered if that would ever happen to him, then again if it did happen, he was well trained in hand to hand combat so he would probably break free.

After that incident, Ludwig decided to keep an eye on Ivan again and payed attention to all his actions. He found out that the more he watching him, the more he noticed little things, like how Ivan would stare out at the streets watching people stroll by with a sullen look on his face. Or how he would disappear somewhere with a bottle of vodka and just stare at the wall. He seemed extremely conflicted when no one was around, but the moment he noticed he was watching, Ivan would turn and smile and ask him to come over to talk. Their talks were nothing more than asking how he was, the political and economic state of his house and what he wants to do. Ludwig always assumed that Ivan was hoping that he wanted him to sleep with him again. He asked once though. Ludwig promptly said 'no', to which Ivan sighed, said it was a waste asking and talked about how Raivis isn't coming home yet. He seemed upset that his sick Latvian, who was just suffering from panic attacks, hasn't returned home. The more Ludwig thought about it, the more he started to like Ivan again.

At one point they got in a strange conversation when Ludwig brought up when Toris told him that he had asked for kids, and how he noticed that he acts more 'motherly' than 'fatherly' to the girl and the people. Ivan smiled.

"Well, Russia _is_ known as the Motherland. Which is why I guess it's so easy for me to live with them, since they think the 'motherland' would be a woman, da?" Ivan chuckled as he watched Toris return with the woman from work, her face dirtied from working in the factory, but she was smiling. She has enough money to head back home and then some. Ivan turned to Ludwig. "Isn't Germany known as the 'Fatherland'? You don't strike me as the fatherly type. You're more like an uncle."

Ludwig let out a sarcastic laugh, only to match Ivan's mood. "Really? Do you think my brother would make a better father?"

"No, I take it back. You'll be a strict papa, da. He's the uncle." He paused and held up two fingers. "Twice removed."

Ludwig laughed with Ivan at his comment and they talked on living with actual people. Ivan was more free too but Ludwig kept himself working like everyone else, blending in perfectly. Ivan however, didn't mind flaunting that he knows every event that happened in full detail because he was there. Most of the Russians over looked it, but in Germany, that wouldn't happen. Ludwig felt a little jealous that Ivan got along with others, but after listening to what the others had to say, it was more one sided. He never got along, he just _attempted_ to and Ludwig often wondered if Ivan even knew that they greatly disliked him and that Toris talked about all the fun times he had when he was with his Polish friend, which was undoubtedly his lover as well.

* * *

**Author's note: **There you go. There isn't much I have to say on small notes for this one, but sorry if Ludwig seemed moody and acted like rape victim in not talking and avoiding Ivan. I can just see him doing that so clearly in my head.


	8. Chapter 8

Ch. 8

Ludwig sat in the train beside Ivan; Raivis and Edward seated across from them. Edward had his nose buried in a book and Raivis had fallen asleep, leaning against his Estonian brother. Ivan had been staring out the window as they steadily grew farther away from St. Petersburg. The woman and her daughter had said her goodbyes and left for home just the night before and already Ivan was showing that he missed their company. She had promised to send him good vodka once she was able to get home safely. Ludwig wondered why Ivan was so fond of taking the night train to Moscow, he never got any real sleep and always dozed off. Now that they were in the company of the others in Ivan's house, he didn't want to sleep, but he needed to sleep regardless. So he decided to allow himself to silently doze off for a few minutes.

His arms were tightly folded across his chest and his head was hung over as he quickly fell asleep. A small bump in the train caused his body to sway and lean against Ivan once again, as it always did when he fell asleep on the train. Ivan turned and flashed a quick smile at the sleeping German. Edward looked up from his book and raised an eyebrow at Ludwig.

"He's the one that's been staying with us right?" Edward asked as he stuck a small sheet of scrap paper in the book to mark his place. Ivan nodded with a smile. "He reminded me of Toris just now when he fell asleep."

"Really?" Ivan asked as he gently wrapped his arm around Ludwig's shoulder.

Edward looked away, he didn't want to get Ivan started on their relationship. Wait, that's right! Ivan has always hung over Toris and treated him like his wife. But here he his, arms around some sleeping blond who's practically the leader of the Axis Powers; their current enemy! Is he...? No, Ludwig didn't seem like _that _type of man, he even held a stern look on his face in his _sleep_. Still, he had to ask.

"Sir?" Edward adjusted his glasses, using his hand that was pushing his glasses up to block Ivan's violet eyes from peering into his. "What _exactly_ is your relationship with him? We've been in St. Petersburg all this time..."

Ivan just let out a small chuckle. "No relationship. He's just a friend. He's agreed to become our comrade, but we have to wait a while before it's all settled first, da. I wish there was, he's so cute, da!" Ivan cooed as he gently poked Ludwig's cheek.

Edward jokingly asked how Ludwig could resist his cute Russian charm. Ivan just smiled and explained that he was being given the silent treatment but never told him why. Edward figured it out on his own, but on how Ivan described Ludwig it seemed like that there was no chance. However, things aren't as they seem once Ivan gets involved somehow. Ludwig stirred in his sleep. Ivan quickly retracted his arm and placed it innocently on his lap as Ludwig forced himself awake. He looked around a bit sleepily for a moment before asking how long he slept.

"Five minutes." Edward answered flatly.

Ludwig sighed and stood up. "I'm going to go walk for a bit."

"I'll go too, da!" Ivan spoke as he jumped up and followed Ludwig down the car. Ludwig didn't speak to Ivan but silently kept walking from car to car until they were at the very last one. Ludwig peered out of the window and shrugged. He was going to turn around when Ivan opened the door and pushed him onto the small platform outside. Ludwig had to grab onto the safety rails to prevent himself from falling over and onto the tracks. Ivan chuckled as he shut the door and leaned against the bars beside him. "It's nice to stand on this and watch the world move, da?"

Ludwig nodded, leaned against the rails, and watched the tracks stretch into the distance as the final rays of sunlight said their last goodbyes. The cool air blowing against his face and through his blond hair, gently pushing it out of it's gelled hold. After a while of silence, Ivan began absently talking about how he's going to miss him when he leaves for Germany in a month. Ludwig could hardly believe that it's already been a month, it felt much longer than that, but for some reason, it seemed so short. He couldn't place his finger on why, though. His hands began to feel rather cold so he rubbed them together and breathed warm air onto them to warm them up. Ivan paused talking and stared at Ludwig for a moment.

"You're cold, da?" Ivan asked with a concerned look on his face. Ludwig shook his head in a lie and watched the tracks disappear in the growing darkness. It wasn't entirely dark though, there was a vibrant full moon in the sky with no clouds in sight to block it. Ivan looked down at his gloved hands. He didn't need them, he was used to the cold. He removed the gloves and held them in his hand. "You can wear my gloves, da. But...You'll have to give me something."

Ludwig sighed, he had a feeling that if he was ever going to get something from Ivan, he'd have to give him something in return. He looked at the black gloves for a moment, then at Ivan's smiling face. He _could_ just say 'no thank you' and not take them, but that would make Ivan feel bad. Ludwig had spent all this time staying on his good side, why get on his bad side now? Question was, what would Ivan want?

Ludwig placed his hands on Ivan's cheeks, feeling the warmth and soft pudginess of his face. He leaned in and pressed his lips against Ivan's, feeling strangely ridiculous for doing so, yet, for some odd reason, he didn't care how ridiculous he looked or felt. Once their lips separated he waited for Ivan to say something.

"I know you can do better." Ivan teased, as he gently tapped his lips. "Just relax more."

_Relax._ Now that Ludwig thought about it, he had read something similar in a book. He wasn't sure _what_ book and _why_ he was reading it then, but he had the urge to find it and read it over again. He put his hands back in their previous resting spots on Ivan's face and took a slow breath to relax. He tried again, their lips not pressed together as hard but it seemed alright. In fact, it _felt_ alright. He kissed Ivan again and again, until somehow, his mind and blurred the events and went to sleep until the warmth of Ivan's mouth woke him up. Ivan either picked up Ludwig's new sense of discomfort and embarrassment for kissing him - which was more of a lie since they had been more making out than kissing - or he had decided to break their kiss all on his own. Ivan grabbed Ludwig's hands and put the gloves on them, talking sweetly in an oddly mother-like tone.

"Thanks. Sorry it got a little out of hand. I was just so happy that you didn't hate me that much, da."

Ludwig cracked a half smile and turned back to the tracks. He quickly thought over any action that would make Ivan think he hated him. He remembered that night they had, feeling a bit mad that he was drunk when it happened, and how he acted afterwards. Now that he was thinking it all over, he feels bad himself. If someone had done the same thing to him, he would have felt that they hated him and regret that it happened, because it was that night that turned his stay around, either for the worse or the best; he wasn't sure anymore.

"I don't hate you," Ludwig finally answered. "Do you regret what happened?" He felt a pit in his stomach, as if he was afraid to hear the answer. But what answer was he afraid to hear?

"Niet." Ivan paused for a moment, thinking on how to explain what he was thinking. "I liked it. Well, I mean, I like you." Ivan looked at Ludwig innocently, reminding Ludwig of a little kid that ran by his house once and asked him if it was alright if he and his friends played in his yard; looking like he was scared Ludwig would yell at him. "But you don't like me, da?"

"No no, I--" Ludwig stopped right there. He knew he didn't _hate_ Ivan, but was he wasn't sure exactly _how_ he felt. "I suppose I like you. You're an alright guy."

"Da, but you don't like me the way I do." Ivan leaned forward and buried his head in his arms. Ivan suddenly looked depressed, making Ludwig feel guilty. He didn't even know what Ivan felt. He makes it sound like he fell in love with him, but it's just not possible for that.

"What did you mean by you 'like' me?" Ludwig asked, looking up at the rising moon.

Ivan stood up straight and put a hand on Ludwig's shoulder and gave him a pleading look, as if he's asking him how and_ why_ he hasn't figured it out yet. Ivan didn't answer, instead he was going to head back, wondering how Edward and Raivis were on their own. When he turned to leave, Ludwig stopped him and came clean.

"I don't know _how_ I feel, and I don't know how _you_ feel. I don't even know what to think, when I try, my head just starts hurting and I get confused." His tone came out more irritated that upset. Which was more or less how he was really feeling. He felt irritated that Ivan was his first, that Ivan has been nothing but nice towards him, that the more he watched him, the more he understood him, respected him, and then there was that odd feeling that started to build up in him. Feeling like, for some reason, there is something connecting them, but isn't. The more Ludwig had thought about it, the more he thought that it could be what some might describe as the beginning feelings of 'love'. But he knew that can't be it. You can't love another man, especially in Germany; it's condemned and you're just asking for a death wish if you did.

Ivan just smiled and gently cupped Ludwig's cheek. "You shouldn't think about it so much, da." He thought for a moment and added, "So it is safe to talk about what happened now?" Ludwig hesitantly nodded. "It felt good, da?"

Ludwig looked away, peering into the window at the other passengers who were all just as tired as everyone else. "I suppose so. Why?"

"Want to refresh your memory?" Ivan asked pulling Ludwig close to him, planting a soft kiss on his forehead. Ludwig's face flushed with the image that came to mind. Truth was, there was a part of him that wanted a 'refresher' but the other wanted to avoid the event altogether. He wasn't sure which to follow, so he'll just make an excuse and see where it will lead him.

"We're on a train, there are too many people."

"So you would if there was no one around?"

Ludwig nodded hesitantly. Ivan either didn't notice his hesitation, or just decided to ignore it. He smiled and opened the door and held Ludwig's hand.

"Come with me, da."

Ivan led Ludwig back down the train, keeping a tight hold on his hand as if not to loose him. Ivan was taking long strides and irregularly jerking his hand around like an excited little kid leading their parent to the toy that they want them to get them for Christmas. Ludwig stumbled behind feeling mortified as the other passengers on the train turned and gave them perplexed looks. When they reached to the end of the passenger cars Ivan let go of Ludwig's hand and began fumbling with the door. Ludwig looked over his shoulder nervously at the people on the train. A few had fallen asleep, mostly children, and others were busy staring out the window or reading. It was the few who weren't sleeping, reading, or zoning out that worried Ludwig. Their eyes were piercing, their minds running miles of questions on what they would be doing with the door at the end that opens up to nothing.

The door slammed open, a gust of cold wind rushed into the train, playing with the pages of books and newspapers. A few of the sleepers awoke with a jolt and looked around, only to settle a confused, yet irked glare at the questionable duo. Ivan turned towards Ludwig with an eager smile.

"Follow me!" He nearly had to shout over the sound of people talking amongst themselves, fluttering papers, and the rattling of the train. He gestured for Ludwig to follow him out of the train but onto what? Ludwig peeked past Ivan to see no platform, but only the bar connecting the passenger cars to the cargo between the them and the engine. When Ludwig was going to protest on how risky it is to climb out of the train, Ivan jumped across the gap and clung to the ladder across from the door he was just at. He climbed to the top, his scarf's tails waving in the wind, almost beckoning Ludwig to follow him. After Ivan climbed to the top he walked across and opened the hatch at the top, then turned to signal Ludwig to follow.

He felt a pit in his stomach telling him not to and his sense of reason yelling at him about the chances of him slipping, falling, and then being torn apart beneath the train; ultimately meaning the end of his country and his people. He looked over his shoulder again seeing that the people were even more irritated than before. Rather having to stay and explain himself, he stepped onto the large iron bar, holding onto the handles by the door for support, before shutting the actual door. He reached over, grabbed the ladder and pulled himself to it. His heart started to pound, of all his life, he never thought of climbing outside the safety of his seat on _any_ transportation. It just wasn't _normal_ to go jumping across cars on a moving train, yet climb to the top and walk across! Ivan waved at him again, so he climbed up and shakily walked towards Ivan who kept his hand generously stretched towards him. The train hit a small bump and Ludwig lost his balance but just as he slipped, Ivan grabbed his wrist and pulled him close.

Ludwig muttered a small thanks that was drowned by the sound of the train before being given directions to go into the boxcar first. He held on the side and dropped himself inside, his boots making a thump echo inside. It wasn't as dark as he thought it would be, thanks to the moonlight shinning through the opening on the roof and the cracks in the walls. There were large crates stacked along the edges and in random places in the centre as if they didn't really care where they were, just as long as they got to their destination. Ivan quickly followed with a slightly louder thump. He stood directly in the moonlight shining through the opening they just came from, the light reflecting of his pale hair and skin, giving him luminous transparent look, almost as if he was a ghost or someone from an old faded photograph. He threw his hands into the air with a large childish grin.

"No one is here. We can't be interrupted, da."

Ludwig's heart jumped, or was it that it was simply still pounding heavily from him coming close to falling to his death on the roof of the boxcar? He didn't know which, and before he could reply, Ivan had cornered him and pinned him against one of the large crates. Ivan kissed Ludwig, being personally surprised that his tongue was granted immediate entry. To be honest with himself, he was glad that Ludwig was this willing. He made quick work of Ludwig's coat and slipped it off his shoulders. Ludwig hesitated with Ivan's coat, but in realising that this time he was actually _sober_ he didn't want to seem like he couldn't handle himself in a situation like this. Well, that's a lie. He _didn't _know what to do, he's going to have to rely on Ivan once again. _'This is the last time,'_ he thought to himself. _'After this, I will _never_ be a bottom. NEVER!'_

Ivan pulled off his own shirt and tossed it haphazardly onto the floor with their coats. Ludwig followed suit and removed his own shirt. Just as he got it over his head, Ivan had somehow already unbuttoned his pants and slipped his hands inside, he only knew this by the sudden feeling of something cold grabbing hold of him. He tossed the shirt aside and pushed Ivan away a few inches and stared into his violet eyes.

"You're hands are cold..." He choked out.

"Sorry. You took too long to follow me. If you were faster, they would have been warmer, da?"

Ludwig glanced towards their main source of light. "Yeah...you're going to fast too."

"Can't keep up?"

Ludwig blushed. "I can keep up! Just that..." _'Shit. I have nothing to say to that!'_

Ivan broke Ludwig's thoughts with a deep kiss. "I'll make it last, but remember, we have to be back with the others by the next stop, unless you want someone to catch us, da."

Ludwig nodded and began to undo Ivan's pants whilst helping Ivan out by kicking off his own. Once they were free of their pants, Ivan began to grind into Ludwig making him moan. He thought it was a bit ridiculous to be completely free of clothes but realised that it would be easier that way since they wouldn't 'accidentally' leave any trace of what happened in sight. He blindly felt for Ivan's hands and held them in his own. Ivan flashed Ludwig a questioning look.

"You're hands are still cold!" Ludwig spoke as their lips parted briefly. Ivan just smiled and kissed him back, moving lower to plant butterfly kisses down his neck. He pulled his hands from Ludwig's and held his hips. Softly asking if his hands were warm enough yet as his kisses drifted down Ludwig's chest. His kisses drifted lower until Ivan was on his knees looking up at Ludwig's face from his waist. His eyes drifted to the growing erection just inches away. A huge grin spread across Ivan's face as he pulled the waistband of Ludwig's boxers lower, only to be stopped by Ludwig.

"Getting shy are we?" Ivan chuckled as he peered into the blue eyes flooding with several emotions, mostly confused. Ivan dropped the German's underwear and took a gentle, yet firm hold of his length. "I'm quite good you know."

"I-I'm sure you are..." Ludwig spoke, profusely blushing. "You don't have to."

"Oh but I do~"

"Don't."

Ivan frowned and stood up but did not move his hand. He began to stroke Ludwig who didn't protest Ivan's touches. Ivan's free hand gently brushed down Ludwig's leg and pulled it up around his waist and then lifted up the German, pressing him against the large crate to keep him up.

Edward looked up from his book and glanced around. His brother Raivis was still sound asleep and the two were still absent. On a usual basis he would find it worrisome but he felt that Ludwig could handle himself around Ivan. He _is_ German after all. Still, It has been a good half hour since they ran past him towards the front of the train. It was how _long_ they were gone that disturbed him.

As if reading his very thoughts the two returned, their hair mildly ruffled and a slight but still present glow around them. Ivan seemed to have enjoyed their little walk, where ever they had gone and Ludwig didn't seem to mind it all either. It was the gleam of secrecy in his eyes that made the Estonian question their actions.

They sat down in their seats across from him and simply nodded as if answering some unknown question. Ivan flashed Edward a smile, that wasn't boasting, but genuine curiosity.

"Did you finish your book when we were away?" Ivan asked. "I didn't realise we were gone that long. I'm sorry if we kept you waiting all alone."

Edward smiled and waved a hand in dismissal as he answered in good courtesy, "I just have a chapter left now, but it's alright. Besides, I wasn't alone, I had my younger brother with me. You are never alone when you have your family with you."

Ivan's face drained and he had a sudden look of sadness. After a moment in his sudden state of depression, his face light up and radiated energy. "You have to meet my sister! It's been too long since I saw her and she's really nice! You'll love her!" Ivan spoke as he gave the German an enthusiastic shake, his hands gripping his shoulders tightly. Ludwig nervously nodded and decided to go along with it. Knowing him, it would be his older sister they would meet.

"We'll go meet her tomorrow! It's a long trip to Ukraine!"

* * *

**Author's Note:** Sorry it took me this long to submit and in my opinion this isn't as well written as I would hope but I have been extremely busy. I'll try to start posting sooner! And for those who were a little disappointed that I didn't take their scene any farther than I had, I tried, I honestly did, but for the life of me couldn't find the right words for it so I dropped it and left it as is. Once again, _many _apologies!

**Нет (Niet): **No (Russian) [I transliterated it 'niet' so that it sounds more like the pronunciation. Then again, I'm not the best at transliteration so...]


	9. Chapter 9

Ch. 9

They arrived back home, each equally tired and sleepy. Raivis swaying as he walked, his mind still asleep and his body continues to crave rest. They all headed back to their own rooms, Ludwig following silently behind Ivan to their room. Ivan flicked on the light and turned towards the blond, his face a deeper blush and a pleading look in his eyes.

"You would want to go back to your own room now, da?" his eyes shifted towards his feet, even though he could barely see them under his coat and stomach. "I'll help take your stuff to--"

"It's alright...it's warmer sleeping with you." Ludwig answered with a rough manly pat on the shoulder as he sleepily strolled towards the bed. He let out a yawn when he sat on the edge and began to remove his boots. Truth was, he was too tired to change rooms, if he really wanted to, he would just change them the next morning when he wasn't falling asleep. Before he knew it, he was tackled onto the bed receiving a swarm of kisses and "thank you for staying"s from the Russian. Ivan then speed stripped and crawled under the covers, grinning childishly from under the blanket at Ludwig, who didn't know what was more disturbing; that Ivan can act so much like a small child or the fact that a man his size can be so nimble. And where does he get his energy anyhow? He just brushed it all off and blamed it on his drowsiness as he slipped under the covers, receiving a crushing hug before falling asleep.

The next morning, Ludwig woke up colder than he usually was. He scanned the room to see that Ivan was gone and nowhere in sight. The musical sound of clinking dishes alerted him of his location. Feeling his usual agitation (usually from something Feliciano and Gilbert have done), he grabbed the first pair of pants he saw, slipped them on and damned the fact that no one woke him up and Ivan's complete lack of a clock in his room as he headed in the direction of the aroma of freshly cooked food.

The three Baltic brothers and Ivan were seated at the table and eating, sharing past events at the hospital and at the house. Ludwig sat in the empty chair beside Ivan and glanced around at the odd stares he was getting from the brothers. Ivan smiled and pushed a plate with small dumplings on it towards Ludwig.

"Dobroe utra," Ivan greeted.

"Dobroe utra. Why didn't you wake me?" Ludwig groaned as his stared at Ivan, ignoring the plate of food in front of him.

"You looked so peaceful sleeping, I didn't want to wake you. I thought you would get all cranky if I woke you up anyways."

"He looks cranky now.." Raivis muttered to his brothers who choked back a laugh. Ivan and Ludwig ignored them and continued their conversation.

"Eat it." Ivan gestured to the plate. "I got up early to make it." Ludwig stared down at it, silently questioning it's ingredients. "It's pirozhki, my favourite." Ludwig took a bite and found himself in shock on how flavourful it was compared to all the other foods he ate while staying with them. "Toris found really good, fresh ingredients while we were gone, so I made it. It's not often that I get something that good."

Ludwig agreed and they spoke about different foods that they enjoyed. Once Ludwig was finished, the two left to go pack their bags, Ludwig holding up his pants to keep them from falling. Once they were out of earshot, Edward stared into the doorway and muttered, "W-wasn't those..."

"...Ivan's pants?" Toris finished.

Raivis nodded. "Are they...?"

"I don't know..."

Ivan had his bag packed and set it by the door and smiled back at Ludwig. "We are leaving today. I managed to get a plane to fly us to Kiev, but from there we have to take a car to her kolkhoz." Ludwig nodded. Ivan opened the door and screamed.

"Natasha!" he cried taking a few steps back. A woman a few years younger than Ivan with long blond hair pulled back by a dark ribbon gave Ivan a cold stare before a creepy smile spread across her face.

"Hello brother. I missed you." Natasha spoke as she slowly stepped into the house. "It's been too long since we last saw each other." She turned towards Ludwig and set him an ice cold glare. "Kto vas?"

Ludwig shifted in his spot uncomfortably. "I'm Ludwig. Nice to meet you, Natasha, was it?"

Natasha only glared harder. "What is your relationship with my brother?"

"Relationship? We are just friends. I'm only here on business so--"

"Yeah! That's why I'm taking him back to the airport to go back to Germany. There's no need to take out the knives..."

"Knives?!" Ludwig sputtered out, feeling his life was suddenly on the line.

Natasha stepped towards Ludwig and stood on her tip toes to have their faces at even with each other. She slipped a knife out from beneath her bow on her dress and held to Ludwig's throat. "And you better keep it that way. If I ever hear that you two are together...I'll kill you and bury you in PIECES!"

"Natasha...please be nice. He didn't do anything to you!" Ivan whined as he inched closer to pry her away from the German. The moment he placed a cautious hand on her shoulder, she slipped her arms around him and under his coat.

"You belong to me, brother. And we'll get married and have a big family like you always talked about wanting." Natasha spoke in a sweet tone that contradicted her tightening arms. "And I will be beside you everyday to love you, hug you and hurt anyone who threatens to take you away from me."

"N-Natasha... I can't breath..." Ivan choked out. Not wanting to get involved, Ludwig backed away and kept his distance. The Belorussian continued to smother her brother in suffocating hugs and claims of marriage and her unfathomable love. Ivan choked out cries of help to the retreating German. "Ludwig! Ludwig! Help! She's scaring me and she won't let go!"

"Sorry, I'll stay out of your affairs if you stay out of mine." Ludwig spoke as he picked up all the bags and balanced them as he headed out the door. "I'll just take these out to the car."

Ludwig sat in the car reading through some papers and telegrams he had received and began conjuring up plans and strategies that would assist in the German victory, whilst silently ignoring the rising voices inside. He looked up to see Ivan bolting for the car and Natasha smiling from the doorway. Now that Ludwig had a good look at her smile, it gave him chills down his spine. He was glad he didn't stick around for long. Ivan slammed the door shut and recklessly sped the car off in the direction of the airport, attempting to wipe off pale smudges of lipstick. There was nothing to be said until they were on the plane.

Ivan broke their silence with a hurt child's voice, clenching Ludwig's hand in a menacing grip. "Why didn't you go and help me?"

Ludwig didn't think about Ivan enquiring about his leaving and abandonment and found himself in a complicated position. "I figured that if I did something to help you or get in her way, she would uh..." _'Kill me for one or get in my way later on...'_ "... She would... Never leave us alone?" The last sentence came out in a insecure whisper.

Ivan gave Ludwig a intense look and tightened his grip before lightening up. "You're right. Thanks for doing that." He leaned over and planted a kiss on Ludwig's lips.

After a few more minutes of silence, a thought floated into Ludwig's mind that bothered him. He turned towards Ivan and gave him a light tap on the shoulder to get his attention. "Wouldn't your sister notice when you are gone or know where you are?"

"Nope. She's used to me running away for a few weeks. I always go stay with Katyusha and she never bothered me before so we should still be fine."

Ludwig muttered a silent "oh" before enquiring about if she ever carries out her threats.

"Of course she does. That's what scares me about her; if she says she's going to kill someone or hurt them she really does. She caught me with Toris once and she said, 'I'll break your fingers if I hear you touch my brother again.' She caught me giving him a hug and when I left to get something and came back, all his fingers were broken! And she kept breaking them for two weeks until he avoided me." Ludwig's face had the expression of utmost horror, because he knew that it could be him someday if he stays with Ivan. "She's really creepy but she wasn't that bad when we were little. Well, then we were all too cold to do anything but huddle together to keep warm."

Ludwig saw the opportunity to learn more about Ivan's childhood but was also curious on how they were caught together. He'd hate to be in the same position as Toris. "Two questions: First one, how did she catch you two together?"

Ivan chuckled and had that same distant look in his eyes when he remembered his meeting Gilbert. "Well everyone was out and it was just us. He was running around cleaning and watching him clean everything was so entertaining that I just had to scare him. The look on his face then was... Well, you know." Ivan flashed Ludwig a smile. "I couldn't help myself, I had to have him right then and there. Sadly, my sister shown up on the middle of it because we never locked the door. We'll talk later, we're here."

They got off the plane and headed for an old truck. Ludwig stood silently observing Ivan as he talked to the driver in Ukrainian and offering him vodka. After a few mild jokes that Ludwig probably would never understand even if he knew the language, they got in and were driven a few miles out before getting picked up in another car. There, the same transaction occurred, a few smiles, a bottle of vodka and and a silent ride further from the capital. After an hour or so, since no one was really keeping track of the time, they arrived at the kolkhoz. Ivan pulled yet another person aside and spoke to them, gesturing in the direction of a rather old and weathered house. The man nodded and took their bags from them and walked away, his face plastered with sweat and dirt in a fixed look of focus.

Ivan, seeming to have completely forgotten Ludwig's existence walked past him and onto the field where a a small group of people where taking a short break and mending a broken tool.

"Sestra!" Ivan called out cheerily, waving his arm in the air to draw attention to himself. The group turned in their direction. A relatively tall woman with short hair the same colour as Ivan smiled and waved, her overalls and shirt was only mildly dirty from the dirt in the field. Ivan sprinted towards her and gave her one of his patented crushing hugs, lifting her a good quarter metre off the ground. She spoke in Ukrainian, her voice sweet but her body's build spoke something not of gentleness but toughness, like she could handle herself in a fight. Seeing how Ivan and his other sister is, it wouldn't surprise him if the last member of the Russian's family was just as violent if not the slightest of intimidating. She glanced over at Ludwig who stood silent a good 10 metres away. She sent a smile towards Ludwig and then enquired about him to Ivan before going over to introduce herself.

"I suppose Ivan mentioned me at some point, right?" She asked as she approached the German. She expressed no fear or confinement of kindness as she reached out a dirtied hand. Ludwig hesitated. She glanced at her dirtied hands and apologised as she wiped her hand on her pants. "I'm Yekaterina Braginskaya, but you can call me Katyusha, nearly everyone does."

Ludwig took her hand and gave it a firm squeeze. "I'm Ludwig. I suppose Ivan mentioned me to you as well."

She nodded and glanced over her shoulder and asked something in Ukrainian. Baffled, Ludwig watched as Ivan nodded and headed towards the house where their bags were taken to; Yekaterina linking arms with Ludwig and leading him away to an area of the field where no one was currently working on. Once they were out of earshot of all the other kolkhozniks, the Ukrainian woman rested her head on Ludwig's shoulder. "So how long have you been with my brother?" She whispered. Ludwig's heart jumped and he pulled away from her and sent her an intimidating, questioning look. "Was I wrong? It's just that, the last person that he brought with him out here was Toris, and he had that same look in his eyes." She glanced back to the weathered old house. "And he's so energetic, I haven't seen him like that in a long time." She paused and looked down. "Last time I saw him with that look and energy, was when he visited me for New Years and Christmas back in 1905." The same look of depression and sadness that Ivan has when he's alone reflected in her eyes. She knew what had happened when Ivan got back to Russia, and why he was always prone to heavy drinking and outbursts afterwards.

"What happened?" Ludwig asked, knowing that she knew the answer.

Yekaterina just smiled and shook her head. "It's better if he told you himself. I'm just glad he's back to his old cheerful self." She pause and shifted in her spot. "I'm sorry if I mistook you for his lover. It's just that, last time he looked like that was when he told me that he was in love with Toris. Are they still doing well?"

"I think so," Ludwig lied.

"Well, if you were, it's alright, you can tell me. Any friend of Ivan's is like family." She gave him a warm sisterly smile that made Ludwig wish that he had a sister instead of an irritating brother who mooches off of him and invades all personal space. "And I never tell Natasha about who he sees. I learnt that the hard way." She let out a nervous laugh. Her easiness made him relax and want to tell her but wanted it to just be something that only he and Ivan knew. He didn't want to risk anyone knowing. There was a long silence before Yekaterina suggested that they head to her house.

"Is that..." Ludwig struggled to find a word that wouldn't insult her.

"Tak. That's my house. We've been through a lot." Ludwig sent a curious look in her direction as they headed back. "We used to live there, my siblings and I that is, and it was so small and shabby. Once Ivan got upset and cried saying that he didn't want to live in a small hut like a poor boy in Siberia, and ran away. In the end, a storm came and he came home and didn't complain anymore. I've had to fix it up so many times over the centuries I can be an architect if I want." She let out a laugh. As they approached closer, Ludwig spotted a slight lean due to a poor foundation and wanted to criticise her building skills but remembered he had to be polite, and kept quiet. "It's not much but it's home. Ivan moved away once the Winter Palace was built but he still visited me from time to time."

"He has an ushanka." Ludwig muttered, hoping it'll spark a new conversation. "Said he had it since he was little."

Yekaterina broke out laughing. "He still has it? He used to wear it during winter. I made it for him when we were little, just like his scarf, but by now that hat should be too small for him, it still fits?"

Ludwig shrugged and looked away blushing. "It fits me."

Yekaterina just smiled and patted him on the back. "I always make things too big. Come, I'll start dinner. It's not everyday I meet new people."

* * *

**Author's Note: **Ok, like I'm sure I said before, I read that Ukraine's name was Yekaterina Katyusha Braginskaya, but I figured that Katyusha would be more of a nickname (and one of my favourite names and songs) so I refer to her as that when talking to her but keep her first name so that it feels like it's just a nickname. Just my own odd spin on things. Once again, my Russian is not the best so if there are any errors let me know. I try to keep it to small phrases so that I don't screw it up but you never know with Eastern languages. Pirozhki is something I've been wanting to try to eat but have no idea how to make it and since I don't know what it tastes like, I couldn't go into detail on it like I wanted, and I couldn't find any good information on life on a kolkhoz so I will end up improvising and if you know it or something in later chapters is historically incorrect let me know and I'll fix it. Thank you!

**Доброе утро (****Dobroe utra****):** good morning (Russian) [NOTE: I'm not the best at transliteration]

**Кто вас? (****Kto vas****?):** Who are you? (Russian)

**Сестра (Sestra): **Sister (Russian)

**Так (Tak): **Yes (Ukrainian)

I just _have_ to point this out: Tak is also Polish for 'yes' so it makes me laugh. And for those who don't know, which I'm sure you do, Kolkhoznik is a person who works on a kolkhoz.


	10. Chapter 10

Ch. 10

Ludwig sat at the small table looking around the small house. Compared to his own house, Yekaterina's house was a hut. There were only 3 rooms; her bedroom, the main room which contained a small kitchen and was also the dinning room, and the spare room that, as she had explained, was the original house. He got the feeling that the place was more of a tool shed because of the accumulation of farming tools that filled the house. Ivan continued to talk to his sister as they all ate borscht, speaking in Russian so that he could join in whenever he wanted, but switching over to Ukrainian whenever he didn't Ludwig to know what they were speaking about.

After dinner, they were shown to the spare room. The floor, like the rest of the house was fairly clean with the occasional dusty spot where the floor boards were laid uneven. Ivan sat on the small bed against the wall rambling on how it takes him back to the old days, before laying down. The Russian no longer fit on the bed as he had as a child since now his feet now hang off the edge. He sat up and looked around, then talked directly to Ludwig for the first time since they got off the plane.

"Why don't you sleep on the bed. It won't fit us both," he let out a small chuckle before adding, "I'm too big."

Ludwig accepted Ivan's offer and slept in the bed, watching Ivan fall asleep on the floor using his jacket as a pillow. Ludwig felt mildly sorry for him, that he grew up in such an impoverish surrounding, when he himself grew up in wealth and surrounded by the glorious treasures of victory from countless wars and battles. Even though he spent, of what he could remember, of his childhood sharpening up his skills in battle and shaping himself to become the sole conqueror and controller of all of Europe; he never knew what it was like to sleep in the cold, relying only on his siblings for survival.

He shook his head to try to get his mind off of Ivan and to save him from feeling remorse. Besides, it's not like Ludwig was ALWAYS wealthy, he was bankruptand in great debt during the Great Depression. Somehow, reminding himself didn't help with how Ivan was raised. He grumbled to himself and rolled over. He couldn't wait to go back to Berlin and be home. Being out on a kolkhoz only made him miss his own home even more.

Ludwig woke up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom. When he got back he realised that Ivan wasn't asleep on the floor. Just as he was wondering where the Russian could have gone, he heard soft whispering coming from the closed door on the other side of the main room. As he inched closer, he could hear the voices more clearly.

"Ivan, you shouldn't drink this late at night." Yekaterina's voice came through with a worried tone. "You know how I feel about your drinking."

"Please Katyusha. I need it." There was what sounded like a soft sob before a long silence.

"Ok," came the reluctant reply before Ludwig heard soft footsteps towards the door. He quickly slipped back into his room and listened to Yekaterina shuffle through her cabinets for vodka. He poked his head into the main room, with a perfect view into Yekaterina's room, silently spied on the two's conversation.

"Spasiba, Katyusha." Ivan took the bottle of vodka and opened it, tossing the cap into the corner. He began to chug the strong transparent liquid, slapping away his sister's hand when she moved to take the bottle away. When it was half empty, he finally lowered the bottle and stared off into the wall, his eyes tearing up.

"Why are you drinking? What happened?" Yekaterina asked, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"I had another bad dream..."

"Was is _that_ dream?"

Ivan nodded and took another swig of the vodka. He began fighting back tears as he struggled to speak. "Katyusha...You'll stay with me right? Even though I..." he paused and looked away for a minute and broke into sobs. "I'm so sorry!"

Yekaterina stared down at her brother confused. "Sorry for what?"

Ivan shook his head and changed the subject to avoid telling her. "W-what do you think of...of the German?" He blushed, or perhaps it was the vodka and his own depression that caused him to.

Yekaterina thought for a minute. "He's alright, I didn't know he was German."

Ivan traced a small "SS" in the air. His sister just stared at him lost with his small gesture. "He's SS."

Yekaterina jumped off her bed and stared down at Ivan in shock. "You mean he's a Nazi?!" she yelled, quickly covering her mouth when she remembered that Ludwig was sleeping in the other room. "Are you sure he's a member of the SS?"

Ludwig watched from his doorway as Ivan fumbled in his pockets and pulled out a small pin. Even though he couldn't see it, he was sure it was his. He didn't know how or when Ivan went through his things to get it but decided to keep quiet and watch.

Yekaterina covered her mouth with a gasp. "Aren't they our enemy?"

Ivan nodded. "But I like him Katyusha. He's the only one who has been this nice to me. I'm just..." he looked like he was going to break into tears again. "worried that he'll betray me. That he'll never keep his promises and I will be hurt again."

Ludwig sat back on the bed and stared at the disheveled coat on the floor and listened to them continue to whisper. He knew that one day that they'll go against each other on the battlefield. It was the inevitable. He laid down and silently listened, drifting back and forth from his thoughts to the conversation in the other room. He quickly fell asleep and was gently woken up by Ivan in the morning.

"Katyusha made breakfast. I though I should wake you since you got cranky last time." Ivan let out a chuckle, his face bright and cheery that contradicted the dark circles under his eyes that proved that he had been up all night drinking. Ludwig sat up and looked around the small room before nodding and following Ivan. Through out breakfast, no one mentioned the nightmare and breakdown Ivan had last night.

It was a bland breakfast of a small portion of some form of porridge that Ludwig was not familiar with and bread. Ivan simply covered for the poor meal by explaining that his sister is poor, and has almost always been. Even when Yekaterina had money, she was so accustomed to living in impoverished conditions that she would continue to live as if she was still in poverty. She even refused to move out of her house for one that wasn't falling apart. Yekaterina finished early, gave her brother a firm hug, and bid them a good day as she headed out to the fields.

"Katyusha said that we don't have to work on the fields, so we get the whole house all to ourselves." Ivan spoke with a grin as he leaned forward on the table, chin resting in his palm.

"Why do you call her Katyusha? Isn't her name Yekaterina?" Ludwig asked, wanting to keep the topic on the Ukrainian woman.

"Well, you could say it's an endearing thing. Besides, I had joined the Red Army to actually be beside my people when they need me, and that means taking part of any and all battles." He paused and looked at Ludwig who nodded and patiently waited for him to continue. "The moment I told her that I joined she flipped and sent me constant messages on my safety. Then last year people began singing this song called 'Katyusha' about an ordinary woman who waits for her love in the Red Army to return. The song reminded me of my sister with all her letters, so I also call her Katyusha for that. Plus she likes the song as much as I do." He paused before adding, "But not like I'm her love or anything! She's just really caring, not like Natasha!"

Ludwig let out a chuckle. "Makes some sense. She really seems nice." Ivan hummed and flashed Ludwig a mischievous smile. "What?"

"Well, she _did_ leave us her whole house to ourselves, and she shouldn't be back in until midday." Ivan repeated, leaning across the table holding Ludwig's hands.

Ludwig blushed and stammered, "What did you have in mind?"

"Well, you are my lover, da?" Ivan asked, worried he was just a toy.

Ludwig looked away and blushed. "Yeah...but didn't you say we couldn't fit on the bed? And I don't want to dirty your sister's sheets..."

Ivan shifted in his seat. "Then, we won't have sex."

"Then what? There isn't anything else to--"

"Remember what I told you I'm good at?"

Ludwig only blushed as he was led into the spare room by Ivan. Ivan kissed him as Ludwig sat on the bed. He kept Ludwig distracted with deep passionate kisses as the Russian's hands made quick work of Ludwig's pants and slipped his hands inside. Ludwig let out a moan into Ivan's mouth before parting their lips. Ivan shot the German a grin as he got on his knees, keeping direct eye contact and parting his legs.

Yekaterina wiped beads of sweat off her brow as she stood up from pulling weeds that began to sprout in the field. A fellow kolkhoznik trotted up to her with a look of suspicion. He glanced around before joining her in pulling up the last threatening sprouts of weeds.

"Thanks for the help, but I got it," she replied to his assistance.

He halted in his work and let out a small answer that Yekaterina barely caught. "Do you mind if I ask you a question?"

"What is it?" She asked, turning her attention to the concerned man.

"Did you notice..." He paused and thought if he should really enquire about what he was thinking. "...that we have received less what was promised to us, even though..." He looked into her eyes, seeking trust, his voice dropped to a hoarse whisper. "...our farms produced more?"

Yekaterina stared out into the distance thinking, she too had noticed that their payment in grain had dwindled even though the kolkhoz had shown great success. "I noticed..."

"Do you know why?"

"We shouldn't ask such things. We should be grateful for what we are given." She looked over at her comrade and saw a sullen look on his face. She knew this man well, that he had two daughters and a wife. His brother had recently gone missing, though no one spoke of it, they all knew he went missing due to his foolish talk against the Soviets and claims that it would only give Ukraine the same problems that Russia suffers from. She let out a sigh and added, "My brother may be in the Red Army, but he also deals with all foreign relations. He is able to get in a word about the kolkhozs not only in Russia but out here as well."

The man looked up, eyes filled with renewed hope and energy.

"But," she added. "That doesn't mean that he would be able to do anything. Or if I will not get in trouble for asking such things."

"On no, it's alright! You don't have to do that!"

"No, don't worry I will, and I'll tell you what he says. He's probably bored at my house at the moment and could use some added company."

Yekaterina said a quick goodbye and headed out to her house. She opened the front door and saw the table empty of the two, but still with dirty dishes where she last saw them before she left.

_'Messy,' _she thought. She heard what sounded like whispering coming from the spare room and figured that they must be discussing something that was of some important secret. It was a shameful act to eavesdrop on another's private conversation, but she couldn't help herself. The more she tried to make sense of the 'whispering', the more it didn't sound like a conversation than random noises. Her curiosity got the best of her and she took a few cautious steps into her home, just enough to peek into the room.

She almost immediately blushed and covered her mouth whilst letting out a rather loud 'oh!' Ludwig looked up, through the door at the shocked Ukrainian. His face lit up a bright red from embarrassment and covered his face as he whispered various obscenities in German. Her brother looked up and turned around, still on his knees and head between the German's legs.

Ivan licked his lips before cheerily saying, "Hi Katyusha!" His face, unlike the other two, was not painted, or even hinted with embarrassment. Perhaps it's because he is incapable of expressing the emotion, or it could be that he was glad and perfectly fine with being caught giving fellatio to another man, as long as it was his older sister who caught him in the act rather than his younger sister.

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-- I'm just going to go!" She bumbled as she bolted out the door, tripping from her own clumsiness. She scrambled back to her feet, popping a button on her shirt, and bumping into the man who she was talking to earlier.

"I didn't get to ask, I'll do that later." She fished in her pockets for her needle, thread, and spare button and began to sew the replacement on. When he asked why she simply replied with, "I think I just walked in on something I shouldn't have."

Ludwig finally calmed down enough to speak properly without various swears. He looked down at Ivan who was still smiling, but had turned back to face him.

"What are you so happy about? She knows!" Ludwig panicked.

"_And?_ She won't say or do anything about it. No one knows you here, so if she does they won't even know who you are." Ivan stated as he prepared to continue what they were doing before Yekaterina interrupted. "If it makes you feel better, I'll talk to her when we are finished."

"I still don't -- ah!" Ludwig was caught off guard as Ivan took the German's entire length into his mouth. He entangled his hands in the Russian's hair, guiding him. Within moments he reached his climax and gazed down at Ivan. Ivan stared up with a wide grin, Ludwig not knowing why until he swallowed something. "Gah! Why did you do that?!"

Ivan gave him a quizzical look as he mindlessly licked the warm white fluid that had escaped through the corners of his mouth. After a moment of an awkward silence and Ludwig's stare, he knew what he was talking about. "Oh, you taste good. I liked it." Ivan answered with a smile.

Ludwig blushed and sent a desperate attempt at an angered look. "Go brush your teeth." Ivan let out a childish groan and leaned in to give him an apologetic kiss. "Don't kiss me until you wash your mouth out..."

Ivan let out a heavy sigh and opted for a hug instead. To make sure that Ivan brushed his teeth, Ludwig followed him to the bathroom and hovered behind him. Once Ludwig approved of his clean mouth, he gave him a quick kiss before Ivan left to speak with his sister.

He found her on the edge of the field, nervously chatting away to a man, trying to explain that she's fine and there is nothing wrong. She must have sensed Ivan approaching, for she turned around and said something rather quickly, gesturing towards him.

"I'll go ask him now," she spoke quickly as she sprinted towards Ivan. "I'm sorry I walked in on a personal moment between you two. I didn't ruin the mood to much did I?"

Ivan let out a rather bright and cheerful chuckle. "Oh no, it was fine, we were almost done anyways." Yekaterina tried to join in with his laughter but still felt too guilty for walking in. "Anyways, he just wants to be sure that you won't speak of it to anyone. It's looked down upon and forbidden in Germany." He paused and looked curiously at the man his sister was talking to just moments before. He dropped his voice to a deep whisper; no longer as soft and childish as it was, but deep and manly. "You didn't say anything to him did you?"

Yekaterina took a nervous step back, Ivan's intense look and strict tone arousing fear in her. His severe expression and lack of warmth and kindness only proved how crucial it is that any relationship between the two is kept a secret. She has never done anything to deserve such negative energy from her baby brother, the fact that he is acting this way towards the one he has always been kind to and gave him only kindness and love, scared her to the point where her voice and all solid thought failed her.

"Yekaterina..." Ivan hoarsely spoke. "Did you say anythi--"

"No!" Yekaterina blurted out. "He wanted me to ask you something...but I don't think now is a good time anymore."

Ivan stared into his sister's eyes, searching for honesty and tearing any barrier that may be hiding anything. After a few minutes, the intense atmosphere let up and he let out a relieved sigh.

"I'm sorry I scared you, Katyusha. You can ask me, I won't get mad."

Yekaterina took a few moments to compose herself before enquiring about the missing payments of grain. As she explained how they produced more but had received less than they did the year before, Ivan's expression of open mindedness melted into guilt. By the time she was finished speaking, Ivan had his head hung low, eyes resting on a scuff on his boot to distract himself. Before Yekaterina could say anything, he spoke.

"I'm sorry, but I'm not really allowed to tell you..." He stood there silently, pondering on what to do. "I'll tell you, but you can't tell anyone, or else we'll both be in a lot of trouble, da?"

Yekaterina nodded eagerly and took a step closer so that they can keep their voices lower.

"Comrade Stalin and I... We love how this kolkhoz is doing so well, but... There are still people around who aren't with us, da?" Yekaterina nodded, knowing that by 'no with us' he meant those who put up a fight to not collectivise and were against the new government that is still maturing. "He came up with a plan to eliminate them..." Ivan glanced away, trying best not to tear up again. "I'm so sorry, Katyusha. I couldn't change his mind..."

The Ukrainian's heart stopped and suddenly, it all became clear.

"I was ordered to keep a portion of the grain from you and other kolkhozs in Ukraine and Russia. He said it's the only way to show them that they are no longer in control and that we are controlling their lives." Ivan let out an uneasy laugh. "It makes me wonder where the system of equality we so bravely fought for has gone..."

After that, there was nothing more to say, because if either of them dared to carry the conversation further, they would become more upset on the cards that was handed to them while no one was looking. Yekaterina walked over to the man who had patiently waited for answer only to be told that "even he doesn't know."

* * *

**Author's Note:** Katyusha, I'll have to say is one of my favourite songs and couldn't help but to add it. I'm sure you know it as much as I do but what Ivan was talking about at the end was part of Stalin's Great Purges where he had systematically starved millions to death. Sorry if Ivan's mind seems a little jumpy in this chapter.

**Спасибо (Spasiba):** Thank you (Russian)


	11. Chapter 11

Ch. 11

By now, Ludwig has been staying with Ivan and his older sister in the Ukraine for a few days. Whether he would admit it or not, he had grown to enjoy the little company that Yekaterina had brought and often found himself calling her 'Katyusha' with Ivan. Even though there was a part of him that still doesn't trust her, he found that she is honest and hardworking. It was through that, and her walking in on them, that allowed him to trust her with the secret affair he is entangled in with Ivan. He thought she would have given him an odd look and question him, hell, he half expected to be called various insults and threatened, but had received a large suffocating hug instead. It was only suffocating because she pulled him down with her arms wrapped around his neck, smothering his face in her breasts. The moment she realised she had done that she immediately apologised and ran off. Perhaps it was then that Ludwig began to wonder if being socially awkward was either a family trait, or just a trait of most Slavs.

The time he was there, the day consisted of short meals that consisted of small, simple dishes and a lot of energetic conversation and laughs; though most of the conversations were about the kolkhoz and 'the cold days' as Ivan grudgingly referred to his childhood as. When Yekaterina had left to work, often if not immediately, then soon after, sex would follow. Often Ludwig would try to talk the Russian out of it, but was not successful in persuading him because even _he_ didn't want to be talked out of it, which surely enough, Ivan knew this and never gave in. The only thing that the German didn't like was that he was still the bottom. The only reason why, he deluded himself, was that he didn't know how to either bring it up or how Ivan would react if he topped.

Ludwig's time with Ivan had drew to a close as they sat in a car driving towards the nearest airstrip. Ivan had managed to get a plane to pick them up and drop Ludwig off in Berlin. As Ivan explained, the plane was originally going to take him to London for a meeting, but has arranged for it to drop Ludwig off on it's way. As close as they have gotten, Ivan refused to tell Ludwig what it was about. The only thing he said about it was, "The other Allies aren't too happy with you. And if I told you anymore than that, I'll have to make you forget it, by _any_ means, da."

The plane ride felt much to short than it was, Ludwig arriving home earlier than arranged, secretly wishing that he had more time with Ivan. Before Ludwig got off the plane, Ivan gave him a long passionate kiss before a final crushing hug. Ludwig waved goodbye at the plane as it took off in the direction of England. He stood there staring mindlessly at the small speck in the sky that was Ivan's plane. The only sound breaking his trance was a car pulling up behind him.

Ludwig turned towards to car and let out a deep irritated groan as the driver stepped out. Sure enough it was the same officer he had the encounter with about his uniform and had been bringing in all his assignments. He honestly didn't like him, it could be that he had this sense that he was superior to even his superior officers, or the way he would stand at attention with his stomach slightly protruding forward. Now that he thought about it, his little weightiness reminded him of Ivan, but he was still much skinnier; he merely had a beer gut.

"So the telegram was correct, you're back early." He spoke, looking around the empty airstrip.

"Why do they keep sending you?" Ludwig groaned as he lugged his bags back to the car.

The other officer stared at him, appalled at his words. "You refuse to get secretaries so they assigned me the job."

Ludwig let out a heavy sigh, and shut the trunk. "Fine, then I suppose I need to learn your name. What is it?"

"Schmitz."

Ludwig climbed into the car first before Schmitz, not speaking a single word until they were halfway to their headquarters. The entire time, Ludwig's eyes were trained on the sky, as if he was still trying to see Ivan's plane.

"Did you fall for someone?" Schmitz asked, sending questioning glances at his blond passenger.

"No," Ludwig lied, his face flushed a pale pink as he attempted to hide his emotion. "Why are you asking me this? Did _you_ fall for someone while I was gone?" Ludwig added sarcastically, rubbing his temples as he felt a headache coming on.

There was a long silent pause as a wide grin spread across the other German's face as he then began to describe a particular woman of whom Ludwig had no acquaintance of. He mindlessly droned on about this 'German girl' who ironically had long brown hair, hazel eyes and was slightly shorter than the average German woman. Ludwig only rubbed his temples and groaned to himself about needing to stop talking to normal humans.

Schmitz suddenly stopped and added, "I need a maid, do you mind filling out the work permits for her?"

"Why do I need to do that? Is she a Jew?"

"Naturally, the cheapest labour and if they screw up, you could beat them and no one cared if they died. They are just scum and worth less than dirt." Schmitz added bluntly after a moment of hesitation. Ludwig thought for a moment before nodding in silent agreement. "Then I'll get her, we are cleaning out the district she works in today and I want to make sure that she can work as my personal lackey."

Ludwig raised his brow in silent question. Why did Schmitz want a certain Jew? Aren't they all the same? He let out a heavy sigh and kept quiet as he had Schmitz fulfill his new duty by informing him of any assignments that he needs to start working on. As passionate as he normally is with work, he felt himself drifting back to memories of Moscow and being with Ivan. He should have enjoyed it more like a vacation, like he did towards the end. But he was forced to accept the inevitability of being worked to death with mindless paper work. He felt a sudden urge to escape the monotonous ritual of going through papers and devising up plans for war, by plunging himself into a battle, which as a consequence will spark off a new war. As little as he cared, he had to wait until the Non-Aggression Pact with Russia was finalised before he could, or else he would be faced off against the one that he has grown to, dare he believe it? Love.

They pulled onto a street that was littered with people with patches on their shirts being herded together by fellow Nazis carrying rifles. The car pulled to a stop in front of a book store that was relatively untouched. Ludwig looked down the street and realised that the farther down the street the more the buildings looked disheveled. The 'cleaning' that Schmitz spoke of was being conducted rather organised, going from building to building as to either not miss a single building, or that they didn't have the current man power to attack all the areas at once. Schmitz rushed into the book store ahead of Ludwig as he got himself situated by gathering additional information from the others in charge.

Apparently, while he was gone in Moscow and getting romantically involved with Ivan, they have noticed a few Jews emigrating out of Germany. Normally this wouldn't bother them, but they had grown curious as to how some of them had managed to slip past them without being noticed, and started to conduct searches. Ludwig thanked them for the information and headed into the bookstore, with work on his mind. He's going to need to get back into his usual work persona in following all orders, as to not fall behind, or worse, face a heated lecture by his boss. And if his boss got angry, he got _angry_. Ludwig shuddered at the thought.

He walked into the bookstore, the bell on the door giving off it's normal cheery ring that contradicted the heavy atmosphere. Schmitz was in the back pulling a woman forward on her arm demanding that she came with him. Naturally she refused and was fighting back, but the moment that she laid eyes on Ludwig, she gave up resisting; most likely in fear since now he has reinforcements, and a much higher ranking one too. The only other thing that Ludwig noticed was her looks. She had long brown hair, disheveled from putting up a fight, and hazel eyes that flooded with both fear and anger. She seemed to fit the description of the 'German' girl Schmitz talked about earlier, but then again, these were common traits as well.

Schmitz began rambling on going to take her to the car and get her papers sorted out, but being in the mood to get work done and not giving two shits about what Schmitz wants, he raised his hand in a silent order to stop. Since they were already there, it didn't hurt to 'clean' this store and get some actual _work_ done, that and he was already tired of hearing Schmitz's voice. Schmitz held onto the woman, her arm twisted behind her back to keep her from escaping as he watched Ludwig go through the books.

"Herr Schmitz...Is this woman that 'German' girl you mentioned earlier?" Ludwig asked sternly as he stared at a few books behind the counter, running a gloved finger over the bindings. There was a long silence before Schmitz forced out a cold 'no'. Having little control of his temper at the moment, or perhaps it was that he's been acting politely for the past couple of months, he angrily shoved half the books off the shelf. A cloud of paper filled the floor as a few books exploded from their aged binding, littering the floor. "You better hope you're being honest, because if not, I'll--" Ludwig stopped in mid-sentence when he noticed something on the floor.

One of the books had landed open, exposing a hole in the pages filled with a small box. Ludwig picked up the box, ignoring the horrified look of the Jewish woman as he opened it and shifted through it's contents. Inside, were 3 passports and a paper with the list of a few families that have decided to go into hiding. Ludwig frowned and turned towards her holding up the evidence. He tossed it onto the desk and kicked through the rest of the books on the floor. Once nothing fell out of those, he began shifting through the books on the rest on the shelves and even through the drawers, searching for some hidden compartment.

Naturally such things would be well hidden, but Ludwig couldn't shake the feeling that there was something else of importance that was missing, and being as dedicated to his work, taking in and completing everything to the last minute detail, _he_ had to be the one to find _everything_, not some low rank soldier. It may seem selfish to others, but Ludwig had to get all the credit, not to make himself feel superior to others, though he wouldn't admit that he already feels so, but to feel content with himself knowing that_ he_ was the one who accomplished it. However, the more it seemed like that was all, the more agitated he grew, ready to fly off at the woman and violently question her where she may be hiding anything else, or God forbid, go and interrogate everyone else that happened to be within the walls.

He ripped out all the drawers and felt along the inside, noticing that the dimensions were off. He smiled and let out a sigh of relief.

_'So I didn't miss anything,'_ he thought as he opened the secret compartment. He pulled out the contents and tossed them on the table. It was all money, hidden away for an emergency. He picked up the passports and held it to the woman's face.

"Are you responsible for this? You do know the extent of this crime is?" Ludwig questioned, his blue eyes, burning with angered passion often seen in the eyes of a soldier about to enter the front lines.

The woman nervously shook her head and Ludwig let out a chuckle.

"Execution." Ludwig pulled out the pistol he had on him and placed it to her head as the other hand shuffled through the rest of the 'evidence' on the table. "And you are planning on not informing us on these Juden's location? It's a duty to tell us, even if you are a Jude."

He held up the list of families to her face as she burst into heavy sobs.

"What else..." Ludwig spoke to himself as he shuffled through the table. As he did so he noticed a small book hidden within the money he pulled out. "Oh~, what's this?"

A wide grin spread across his face as he reached for the book, feeling proud of himself for finding the thing he knew he was missing, however the moment he saw the title of the book, the smile quickly faded.

_'Manifest der Kommunistischen Partei'_

With those four words, Ludwig's passion and pride to sentence this woman to execution, and to perform it himself on the spot, had been drained from him. But there was a small chance, that this woman was not the owner of the book. He held it up to her, gently this time, though even he himself didn't know why he was being so gentle with it, and asked, "Ist diese Ihrer?"

Sure that she was already going to die, she didn't mind taking on the burden. The only thing running through her mind was, _'If I claim my brother's book is mine, he'll be safe and they'll only take me.' _She nodded and shut her eyes, expecting to be shot since the gun was still pressed on her forehead. But instead of her prayers being silenced at the click of the trigger, the cold muzzle of the pistol disappeared. She cautiously opened her eyes and found Ludwig staring at her intently.

"So this really belongs to you?"

She nodded and meekly answered, "Ja."

Ludwig let out a sigh and began to calculate what to do next. He has almost every reason to shoot her here and now, but no passion to do so. He felt that if he killed this woman who has claimed that the Communist Manifesto belonged to her, he would be indirectly killing Ivan. He felt like he would never be able to look at him the same way knowing he killed another Communist in cold blood and _enjoyed_ doing it too. However, if he didn't kill her, it would seem suspicious and he would questioned about it. His hesitation was suspicious enough, he had to do something.

"Take her outside and wait." Ludwig ordered to Schmitz as he headed towards the back room. Schmitz without a word followed his orders, peeking over his shoulder at his commanding officer. Ludwig pocket the manifesto mindlessly as he entered the back room. Two young men, jumped into the corner shocked to see Ludwig, the windows were too small for them to escape through so they had been silently hoping that they would leave. Remembering his job, Ludwig glared at the two. "Come with me."

When the two hesitated, Ludwig stormed over, grabbed them both and shoved them through the shop, kicking them to their knees once on the street outside. By then, they both had their heads hung low knowing what was coming next. Everyone had turned towards Ludwig's direction, unknowingly aware of what will happen. Ludwig cleared his throat and demanded everyone's attention to be directed at the two.

"I am going to warn all of you, by setting an example of these two." Ludwig began as he pointed his gun at the one to his right. "These two have been helping other Jews escape and hide. They _refused_ to cooperate with us and do their duty to inform the authorities. They snuck around and _betrayed_ the Reich, breaking the law. They are criminals; scum! Such acts will _not_ be tolerated under _any_ circumstances! They were even co--" Ludwig choked on the word. He couldn't even claim that these men were Communists. "It doesn't matter, this is their punishment!"

Through Ludwig's speech, the man was muttering a prayer to himself. Ludwig pulled back the trigger, and with a bang, blood burst forward, following the bullet as it exited his forehead. The crowd of Jews that were standing across from them let out screams, a child burst into tears as her mother covered her eyes. The man's lifeless body collapsed onto the floor, blood pooling around his head. Ludwig stepped behind the other and placed the gun to his head as he too, like the first, began hopelessly praying. With the pull of the trigger, Ludwig had ended the man's life, he too falling to the floor in his own pool of blood. Unlike the first, the group didn't scream, but the woman behind him. She had broken into hysterics, breaking free from Schmitz's grip to run to the man's side, wrapping her arms around him sobbing and wishing aloud that this wasn't happening.

Out of sympathy, Ludwig allowed the woman to mourn over her loss for a moment. The other's were pushed back into their line and forced to move along as Ludwig went back into the store to gather up the evidence on the table. As he was putting everything together neatly, he had the urge to browse through the books. It could be that being around all those books reminded him of Ivan's study and made him curious, or it could be that he remembered a book he had read once with advise. As he browsed, he began to feel ridiculous. First day back in Berlin he misses Ivan, executes 2 Jews, discovers a group helping them escape, and looking for a book on love and relationships. It feels pretty silly and the more he looked forward to finding it, more it seemed like it is just a small strand of hope for something that doesn't exist. But sure enough, as he was about to give up this childish pursuit, he found it. Looking over his shoulder to see if anyone was paying attention, he pulled it off the shelf and put it under his arm, picking the evidence up as he left the store.

Ludwig passed the evidence over to the officer in charge and instructed him to do a search for the 'suspects.' Once he had that handled, he helped Schmitz shove the distressed woman into the back seat of the car. They sat in the car, the only noise beside the engine were muffled sobs. Ludwig kept his eyes trained on the passing buildings, absentmindedly running his fingers along the binding of the book, eager to read it once he's alone. Schmitz periodically glanced over to the book in Ludwig's lap, trying to read the title printed on the binding, but could only take quick glances and the moment Ludwig noticed he was looking, he turned it around so that there was no way of indicating it's title. As they pulled up to their work, Schmitz turned towards Ludwig and asked why he didn't kill the woman.

Not wanting to say that it was because she was Communist, he claimed "It's more punishment to watch loved ones to die for your mistakes." Schmitz thought for a moment before agreeing with an uneasy chuckle. They brought her in and had asked another officer to have his secretary fill out the forms while Ludwig had a discussion with Schmitz. Once they were alone in his office, he turned towards him and gave him a cold look.

"I'm going to warn you here and now. Don't get involved, it's a disgrace to the Reich." After a moment, realising the hypocrisy of his words, he added in a low whisper, leaning close so that his voice didn't travel far. "If you did, come to me first."

"Sir?"

"I'll give you a chance to redeem yourself, but if you don't go to me and I catch you..." He sent him a glare. "I will personally be the one that signs the papers to your discharge and execution, do you understand?"

Schmitz didn't even have a chance to answer. Ludwig walked directly out of the room, returning moments later with orders for him to bring his assignments and take him home. On the drive to his house, Ludwig interrupted Schmitz and told him to keep quiet. The moment they pulled up to his house Ludwig got out of the car without a word. Just as he was about to open his front door, Schmitz poked his head out the car window and said, "Someone came looking for you earlier, and said he'd let himself in."

* * *

**Author's Note:** Happy New Years, even though I'm late. Sorry it took so long, I meant to finish it earlier. I'll appologise here if I offended anyone in this chapter. It wasn't my intention at all, I just wanted to give it the heavy feeling of Nazi Germany. I'm not sure how early these acts started in Germany, but if it's a bit premature, let's just say it happened then, for the sake of the story. (Hey, we can even blame it catching on from Ludwig ahaha.) I was going to have more happen, where he executed one of the people from the passports, but had decided that it may be a bit too much at this point (that and I felt to bad writing it). Schmitz is the most generic name I could think of and I think it fits him, even though he's an OC, he's just going to be more of a pain in the ass than anything (mostly because I hate adding extra characters, but he's for added conflict. I'm not a huge OC person so don't expect too much out of him).

**Jude(n):** Jew(s) (German)

**Manifest der Kommunistischen Partei: **Manifesto of the Communist Party (German)

**Ja:** yes (German)

I couldn't resist putting in the entire title of the Communist Manifesto in German, after all, it's the original language it was written in. As for the dating book... For those who read the comics, you understand what it's about. But just incase, Ludwig (being German) fails at romance and needs the help of books and would follow them word for word, and rather aggressively at that. Just to give you a heads up on what's to come.


	12. Chapter 12

Ch. 12

Ludwig let out a sigh as he turned the knob to open the door. There could only be two people who would drop by and just let themselves in while he's gone. He slowly opened the door, expected to either be tackled down his steps or to have beer shoved in his face. However, he was met with neither of them, but tripped on a pair of shoes the moment he entered. He glanced at the neatly polished black shoes before pushing them out of the way as he closed the door. Shortly after the door shut, a voice called out from inside the house.

"Ludwig-san, okaeri nasai," the voice floated through. Moments later, the owner stepped into the room, wiping his hands off with a small rag. "I'm sorry I entered your home without permission."

"It's just you. It's alright Kiku, you wouldn't know how often that happens." Ludwig looked around the room as he hung up his coat. "You cleaned?"

Kiku nodded a little embarrassed. "I didn't expect you to leave you're house in such a mess. You seem so strict about things..."

Ludwig's stomach dropped. He had forgotten that he had left his house in the hands of his brother and Feliciano. He felt sick and irritated at the thought of what condition his house had been left in, especially if it was bad enough to have Kiku go out of his way to clean it. He apologised and hung up his coat before following Kiku to the kitchen. In the kitchen there was the aromatic smell of herbal tea which was undoubtedly brought by the young Japanese man. He was always particular about his tea and often brought his own since he knew his allies had more often preferred to drink a form of alcohol.

Ludwig figured that Kiku had something important to tell him so he sat at the table and patiently waited. Kiku returned with two mugs of hot tea, disappointment on his face since they didn't have the right cups to drink from. He sat across from Ludwig staring at the tea for a moment, enjoying the warmth radiating from the cup. He carefully organised his discussion ahead of time before speaking. Once he was sure how it would go, he spoke.

"I heard about the pact you are planing to make with the Soviets.." Kiku hesitated for a moment, gathering his courage to speak against his powerful ally and express is opinion. "I think it's in great _distaste_." Ludwig raised an eyebrow, keeping silent patiently to see what was so 'distasteful' of his decision. After a moment of silence of approval, Kiku continued. "They are completely different from us. They only seek to destroy us.. I defeated him once, but he was just toying with me I'm sure. I don't trust them, they'll just betray all good intentions, ignore the pact, and give the Allies all our tactics and plans."

Kiku remained silent and sipped at his tea. Ludwig took a sip from his to not be rude, but then quickly set it down. He never understood how someone could enjoy such an odd tasting tea, especially when it just looked like pee in a cup. Then again, his beer would be of similar colour, but the taste was something he was used to and not bitter in a non-alcoholic way.

"I trust him."

Kiku stood up and slammed his hands on the table. "UNACCEPTABLE!" Ludwig was completely taken aback by this sudden outburst by the normally mild mannered man he knew. As if noticing the sudden change, Kiku blushed and sat back down. "Gomen. I just have this feeling like he's going to be responsible for our losses in battle."

"Who says we'll lose? Our forces are stronger than ever, this war will not turn out like the last one." Ludwig added coldly, nationalism boiling in his heart. He took a deep breath before answering, warmer and softer, the harshness of his language almost magically disappearing. "Besides... I spent two months living with him. I..." Ludwig blushed and glanced out the window hoping that Kiku didn't notice. "I got to know him. He seems true to his word. He doesn't want to get into a war, and if he does betray us, it would be in the distant future and by then we would be unstoppable."

------------

Ivan looked at the cup of hot tea on the other side of the long table. It's owner had just set it down from taking a sip before going back to his rant, occasionally slamming his hand against the black board for added effect. The other members watched with similar disinterest.

Francis was lazily leaning on the table, his chin resting in his hand as he gave out a yawn. To the right of Ivan was the only Asian member of the group; Wang Yao. Normally, Ivan would have taken up an interest in him, but this time, the only interest was a mild sense of concern. He had a bandage on his arm and several bruises along with bags under his eyes showing a severe lack of sleep. And in the seat to his left was someone that everyone never seemed to notice. He never got to know his name, and he often spoke so low that no one heard. He often brushed off his existence but knew they shared a common knowledge of the cold.

"Hey you bloody frog! You have a death wish?!" The Brit loudly spoke, slamming his hand on the table in front of the Frenchman causing the teacup to jump before wobbling back into its place.

"No, you just bore me." Francis answered with a sly grin.

Arthur erupted into an angered rampage that turned into a mild fist fight with Francis. As the two blonds fought it out, Ivan decided to entertain himself by humming a tune while he picked whatever had gotten under his fingernails. He didn't dare whistle though Yao had done it, he felt oddly superstitious today. After they were all fought out, Arthur brushed himself off.

"Does anyone have anything they want to contribute?" He glances at all people present who had all turned their attention to him except for Ivan. Ivan still lightly hummed to himself, picking at his nails. "What about you Braginski? You live close to the Kraut. As a matter of fact, I got a report that your plane landed in Germany. Explain yourself."

Everyone turned to Ivan and gave a worried yet interrogative stare. Ivan felt like he was just caught, but he didn't loose his cool. He flashed a smile at the blond in reassurance.

"Why? Well, my plane had some difficulties and had to make an emergency landing so we can check what the problem was, da." Ivan answered slowly as if he was struggling with the language.

Arthur studied the Russian questioningly. _'I'm sure he's hiding something, but it seems right. The plane was grounded for some time.. and everything he produces seems to have some sort of problem.. I'll buy it.'_ Arthur straightened out his posture and nodded.

"Ok.. If you learn anything on those bloody krauts, you'll inform us, correct?"

Ivan gave him a solid nod before he turned back to his black board. After all, who needs to know that he has established a romantic relationship with the so called 'kraut'; the enemy.

"Now, we need to discuss on the protection of Poland. It's obvious that the Germans have their sights set on it once again..."

------------

Kiku sighed and stood up. It was now obvious that there was no changing his German counterpart's mind on the pact with the Soviet Union. Ludwig went to put the empty mugs of tea, but was beaten to the gesture by the shorter man. Kiku silently washed the dishes, leaving their conversation over as it is. When he left, the only words he spoke was, "I really wish you would reconsider this pact." And he left.

Ludwig was partially relieved that the visit was over and he had his house to himself, however being alone in his house felt lonely for the first time. He never minded being alone, in fact, he enjoyed the silent isolation between the frequent chaotic visits he'd get. However, after living in the lively house in Russia, constantly in the company of others, he had grown used to it and missed it. He decided to enjoy some of the beer he missed while gone, but found himself in a predicament. He slammed his refrigerator shut with a frown; instead of beer was a note that said, "You're out of beer bruder. Buy more. ~Gilbert"

He was going to have to go to a bar to drink or stock up on more beer. He shoved his keys into his pocket and went to grab his coat. As he picked it up, he realised two things; a pocket was heavier than the others, and that he shouldn't go buying beer in his uniform. Being more concerned with the pocket, he plunged his hand into it and pulled out it's contents. It was a single book. Ludwig smiled, not realising that he had pocketed the Communist Manifesto. He grabbed his other book on relationships and decided it was best to get some reading done and relax before he goes to buy some more beer. Besides, if a certain red eyed, loud mouth booze hound dropped by, Ludwig would enjoy his face when he realises that there is no beer for him to mooch off of.

After hanging up his coat, Ludwig headed into his study. He sat heavily into his seat causing it to creak under his weight, tossing the books carelessly onto his desk. After a moment of recollection, a minor fact floated into his mind and planted itself in his brain, ticking closer to its detonation. Before he had left, he had to sign the work permit and on that permit was all the information he needed to know about the woman. There was a single line on it that disturbed him. She was a German _citizen_.

His stomach dropped at the thought that she is more than a Jew, but a German as well. He never thought of it, he just blindly followed orders, yet, he does it with such passion. He picked up his phone on the desk and ordered that he had more background information on her. The moment it was confirmed that she was born and raised, as was her family, in Germany, the bomb in his head blew and his body was flooded with guilt. He wouldn't have had this guilt if it wasn't for living with Ivan and watching him care for every one of his 'comrades' with a warm smile and motherly concern. Yet, here he is. Just back from executing two of his own people, granted they were still scum in his mind, but his people nonetheless. How could he be with someone so caring for those from his country, when he himself heartlessly sends them off to go through events worse than hell.

Ludwig felt like he wouldn't be able to look at Ivan the same, that a single glance at his face will show that he had realised what crime he had committed. Thoughts raced through his mind as papers from the files in his mind burst open in a whirlwind of confusion. _'Would Ivan still love me? Would he hate me? How would he react to this? What if it destroyed the chances of our pact and I no longer have a for sure force in my up coming invasion? Then all the plans that mein führer has planned will never come into fruition and I'll remain weak in these closed quarters!' _

Ludwig hunched over his desk gripping his head, desperately trying to silence the thoughts running through his mind. Now was definitely a time for beer to calm his nerves. The last thing he needed was to have a guilty conscience. After all, he did nothing wrong, right? He just did what any other German would have done. They were criminals as well, it was against the law to hid and not be registered. They brought it upon themselves. Yes, that's it. Everything he did was for the sake of keeping himself in existence.

Ludwig smiled and sighed as the thoughts began to quiet down. He wasn't guilty of anything, so what will there be to show Ivan? Why should _he_ know what happens within the borders of his land and within the branches of his government? It was only his burden and his alone, and he was going to continue to follow his orders, after all, the man giving them to him has brought nothing but progress and a new found sense of hope.

Feeling better with himself, Ludwig leaned back in the chair and took a deep breath. Now for the next problem; a lack of beer. He stood up and headed for the door when the phone rang. It's sound reverberating throughout the silent room. Dread swept over him. It had to be Ivan. No one else had any business to call him now, only Kiku and those around him at work knew of his return.

The phone kept ringing, as if it was desperately trying to get his attention like a crying baby. He hesitantly picked up the phone and put it to his ear, preparing himself mentally not to give any hints as to what he had done almost immediately after his return to Berlin to whoever was on the other end.

"Hallo?"

* * *

**Author's Note:** Sorry it has taken so long to update. This chapter is a little slow so I appologise for that... Yes, Canada made a brief appearance in this chapter. What Ludwig is talking about by 'closed quarters' is that the German's wanted more 'living space' and expand their borders so that Ludwig sees his own country as too small.

**おかえりなさい (Okaeri nasai): **Welcome back (Japanese)

**ごめん (Gomen): **Sorry (Japanese)

**Hallo:** Hello (German)


	13. Chapter 13

Ch.13

Ludwig listened patiently for an answer on the other end, but received nothing. Nervously, he repeated, "Hallo?"

"...L-Ludwig?" A voice floated through the line, weak and a bit feminine. He didn't recognise the voice at first and was about to ask who was speaking when they continued. "...I'm not supposed to be talking to you but...can you help me some more? I.. I'm in desperate need of--"

That's when he recognised who was speaking. He let out a sigh and responded, interrupting the man's plea. "Herr Yao, I've exhausted myself helping you. You're an Ally, so you should be grateful that I decided to help out at all."

"I know that but.. Please, Kiku, he's..."

"I'm sorry, Herr Honda is my ally and I will not go against him for you. Handle your own problems. If you need help so bad, why don't you just ask the Americans?" And with that, Ludwig hung up. He hated to be rude, but he had a point. He risked enough with helping Yao and there wasn't much of a need to, soon, he'll need to be focusing on his own military affairs.

Yao hung up the phone, body shaking as he struggled not to cry. He was hoping that he could gain a little more assistance against the Japanese forces and some more added protection from the Germans, but their alliances finally kicked in. When he had managed to calm himself down to put up yet another strong front towards his allies, a dark sense of foreboding enveloped him. He spun around on his heels to see that Ivan had been looming over him nearly the entire conversation.

"What is it you have to do with Ludwig, _comrade?_" Ivan spoke, his voice dropping to a low hoarse whisper. Yao stammered to respond, but his voice was caught in his throat. "You wouldn't happen to be one of the Axis, would you?"

Yao nervously shook his head. Ivan stared for just a few more moments before lightening up and smiling softly. "Good. I was afraid I would have to convince you otherwise." He turned and began to walk away, halting when Yao's voice lightly broke through.

"Please don't tell the others I just contacted him."

Ivan turned with a light smile that eased Yao. "Of course not, Comrade." He strolled back over to the Chinese man and lightly patted his head. "I wouldn't think of telling them. They are still my enemy even though they are my ally..." He paused and glanced upward as if something was being shown to him. "...I can tell... You can be my ally to."

"Aren't we already--"

Ivan shook his head with a smile before leaving. Yao stared at the Russian as he left, lost and confused with what had just transpired. Ivan smiled, for a moment, he was afraid that Ludwig had another and too was unfaithful like Toris, but it seems that he wasn't that type.

After the last meeting had finished (a couple days later since fights kept delaying anything from being discussed) and Ivan had boarded his plane, he was in good spirits. As he sat on the plane he began scribbling down a letter on a spare piece of paper. Content with what he had written he gave the paper a kiss and ran into the cockpit demanding that the pilot land in the nearest airport. The plane made a landing in Netherlands as Ivan scrounged up as much money as he had brought with him and stuffed the letter in his pocket. He begged the pilot to remain grounded and claim that they had technical difficulties as he went to deliver a message.

Ivan exchanged his roubles for guilders and rushed to the nearest place to send a telex, since he imagined it would be the quickest way to send the message directly to Ludwig and would be unable to trace it back to him. He was given an odd look, or rather a fearful one when he mindlessly announced that it was going straight to SS headquarters in Berlin. He had to bribe the man to keep his mouth shut about the telex and it's destination, but he knew in the end it would be worth it. Feeling accomplished for sending out his message, Ivan rushed back to his plane, apologising for taking so long to return.

Ludwig was reading over a few files on the newest prisoners being sent to the Dachau concentration camp, wincing slightly at each one labelled as 'communist'. He pushed a finished report aside and opened up the next one: Alfred Haag. He frowned that he was a communist who was sent to Dachau, and felt even worse when he was one of those who authorised him to be sent there in the first place. All he needed to do for this was give the final approval of his release. He sighed as he grabbed his pen and was about to give his signature when he realised that he wasn't just being released, but rather, relocated to the Mauthausen concentration camp in Upper Austria which by what he heard, gave harsher treatment to it's prisoners. Perhaps he'll get to this file later.

There was a knock on the door before it opened, Schmitz walking in with new files Ludwig needed to approve. Ludwig let out a heavy sigh and put down his pen as he leaned back.

"What now, Schmitz?" He grumbled.

Schmitz placed the stack of files on Ludwig's desk. "They need your approval. Did you finish these?" He pointed to the stack of files Ludwig had pushed aside.

Ludwig nodded and neatly stacked them. "All I need to do is..." He shifted through what was on his desk, realising that the only thing he had left was to give the final approval to Herr Haag's relocation to Mauthausen. "...is sign... this..." Schmitz waited patiently until Ludwig quickly signed it and handed it along with the stack of the rest to him. "Is that all?"

"Ja."

"Then get out."

Schmitz frowned and walked off, displeased with how he is treated. As he walked out of the hall, a woman who normally delivers all the telexes that come in stopped him and handed him one addressed to Ludwig. Schmitz sighed and walked back into Ludwig's office, receiving a glare upon his return. He walked over and handed it to Ludwig.

"This just came in from the Netherlands...Do we have anyone out there?"

Curious, Ludwig took the telex and shook his head. "We may have, but I don't think that's likely. You can go now." Ludwig waved him off as he began to read it over. Schmitz did as he was told, he too curious as to who it was, but there was no name from the sender, but at the end of the telex was just two initials. That's hardly anything to go off by, but who had sent it, had some sort of relationship with him. He hopes he can get a hold of the telex to read what it was rather than just skim for the sender.

Ludwig smiled slightly at the message, the more he read, the more clear on who had sent it became.

_Herr Ludwig—_

_I must apologise for not saying anything for so long and that our time together was cut short, but I must say this: I am so happy that you are a faithful man and very loyal. I trust you and I love you. Look, I said love! I can't help it that I do, even if you are a fascist, I love you more than my own family. You did say I can come out there in Germany to see you and try some of that beer you brag about. Oh but that wouldn't be all I would be there for. Even though its been a few days, a week maybe, since I last saw you, I miss you terribly. I miss you sleeping beside me already, and I know the mornings won't be as warm as they have been with you gone. Hopefully you don't take to long to return. There is so much I want to do for you, or rather, to you. I want to see your face when we make love again. It's so beautiful. I can go on for pages on how wonderful it is to be with you, but I have to keep this short or else I would run out of money sending just this single message. I would love it if you can send me a message on when I can come over and see you, but now is not a good time. I have to get caught up in my work or else I might get exiled. I love you so much and will be thinking about you and waiting until we can see each other again. _

—_I.B. _

Ludwig chuckled at the rant that Ivan had sent him, his heart feeling light and a warm feeling surrounding him as if somehow Ivan had appeared behind him and had wrapped his arms around him. He was impressed at how clean the German was, or even the fact that it _was_ in German! Though when he thought it about, sending a message like this directly to his headquarters was smart, as long as sending it from another country.

Feeling in good spirits, Ludwig decided to rethink his offer with Yao. He immediately sent out a telex back to Kiku asking for some details on his current war with China. The next day, he had received a message that Kiku had already left for China and that he may not return for a few weeks and therefore, be out of contact. He groaned and tossed it in the trash as he went for a walk to calm down.

Seeing him leave his office unguarded, Schmitz rushed in at the opportunity to snoop around his superior's office. He had grown tired on how Ludwig treated him like crap or that he would get nosey about the communist Jew he had acquired, as if she meant _something_. He snorted as he grumbled on how Ludwig was undeserving of his rank, regardless if he was Aryan or not! Which he obviously was. Not finding the note on the desk, he hastily made work with the drawers, trying to keep them in the same condition as Ludwig had left it. He was about to give up until he found the Russian to German dictionary and language books with a slip of paper sticking out of it.

Sure enough it was the telex that Ludwig had received from the Netherlands. The fact that it was tucked away inside a book proved it was personal. He quickly read it over, trying to remember as much of it's contents as possible before putting it back and leaving. He rushed everything even though there was no need since Ludwig didn't return for an hour, having run into his brother.

Schmitz left for home after work that night, being dragged to stay longer because Ludwig took his time with his reports and needed Schmitz to turn them in for him. As he drove home he began to go over the telex that Ludwig had received. It had to be sent by a woman with the initials I.B., and that who ever she was, she had an affair with Ludwig over a couple weeks ago. Ludwig came back early and seemed rather distant at first. But who is this I.B.? What was her name? Ida? Ingrid? He would need to try to find out who she was. The last sentence sounded like she lived in another country, but spoke perfect German. What countries gave out exiles? Bad question, a lot do.

Schmitz groaned and scratched his head trying to figure out this I.B. is to blackmail Ludwig. He's just going to have to wait for the next message to come in to find out more on who this person is. Normally, Schmitz would rather not get involved in a superior's personal life, but he felt that this relationship was one that could jeopardise Ludwig's position in the SS and if he gathered enough evidence and turned it in, Schmitz would get a promotion and surpass Ludwig in rank and watch him get dragged off to one of the many camps he helped authorise their construction. This wasn't _just_ a gut feeling, but he _knew_ it had to be that way, why else would she write, "even though you are a fascist"?

* * *

**Author's Note:** I'm sorry it took so long to write this, I've been really busy lately and had barely any time to do anything! Plus I needed to do some more research on any events pre-Soviet-Nazi Pact. I'll explain some of the things in here just in case because, if I read this, I would be a little confused because little ol' me didn't know what half the things I had in there was. Haha!

**Herr: **German equivalent for "Mr."

**Telex**: It's the later form of Telegram service that was used throughout Nazi Germany, first used nationally in 1935 within the government. It was still used up until about the 1960's by other countries such as Canada. The easiest way I can try to explain it, is that it's sort of like a fax machine, without it being a fax machine. I don't know, I'm not so good with old technology. ehehehe...

**Rouble:** It's Russia's currency, used before and after the Soviet Union.

**Guilder: **It's the national currency of Netherlands. You wouldn't find it anymore because it is no longer used since the Netherlands replaced it with the Euro in 2002.

**Alfred Haag:** I already explained his situation within the story but I'll add a little more detail here. Herr Haag was a member of the KPD (Communist Party of Germany) and was also married to someone whom was also a member of the KPD. They were both arrested in 1933 during Hitler's rise in power and was sent to Kuhberg Concentration Camp until 1935 before being sent to Dachau and went through physical torture. I don't want to give out too much information for those who don't know him, because I plan on using him later on. And for those wondering why he was to be transferred to Mauthausen, it was because he was sneaking bread to feed his comrades.

**Dachau / Mauthausen: **Both are notorious Concentration Camps; Dauchau being the first one to be opened (1933), Mauthausen a few years later (1938). Dachau was the first concentration camp for the Nazis and was a prototype for all the other contration camps that followed. Both performed torture on the inmates and gave out harsh punishments, but for the prisoners of Dachau, being sent to Mauthausen, was an even worse fate where you were "exterminated through labour". Those labelled "political prisoners of the Reich" were forced to do hard labour in extreme heat and cold while suffering from malnutrition and savage beatings on a daily basis.

**Other:** During WW2 and a little prior to that, during the Rape of Nanjing, there was some German aid to the Chinese, but they didn't do much. A member of the Nazi party, John Rabe, actually worked to save the Chinese from the Japanese. He wrote a letter to Hitler demanding that he does something, but was turned down by being told that he shouldn't speak against their allies. For those wondering why Yao was all beaten up, it was because of what is going on in Nanjing, so yes, he was raped by Kiku, as odd as it sounds. I only mention that here because I won't get to that side of the story only mention pieces. I would severely recommend the book "The Rape of Nanking" for those who want to know more about this. I own the book myself.

For those wondering, yes, Schmitz is _that _kind of character. He's a smart ass and gets into a lot of trouble. I hate him personally. If I met him, I'd punch him in the face to be honest. Why I created him, I will never know. Also, he's going to keep thinking Ivan is a woman and will just dub him "Ingrid" until he knows his actual name. So if I end up mentioning a woman named Ingrid, it's Ivan.

If you catch any mistakes, please let me know and I'll correct it as soon as I can get to it. Thank you~!


	14. Chapter 14

Ch. 14

Ludwig sat and opened his second bottle of beer. Gilbert sat beside him, reclining in the chair trying to kick his feet on the table only to have them slapped away or get punched in the arm.

"Come on, West! Stop abusing your older bruder!" Gilbert laughed. Ludwig just rolled his eyes and drank. "I don't know why we don't just go to a beer hall like we used to--"

"I don't want you drunk off your ass again. I got tired of lugging your skinny ass home!" Ludwig glared at the other blond whom just smiled and nodded knowing that's how it always went. They would enjoy themselves drinking until Gilbert had too much and had to be dragged out by at least two other people, then later, Ludwig would have to deal with his hangover.

"So, how was it in Russia?" Gilbert asked, a mischievous smile painted across his face as he waited for the information he asked his brother to gather for him.

Ludwig blushed slightly, remembering what he had let Ivan do to him on several occasions. "...ok..."

Gilbert snorted. "Ok? Didn't you find out anything about that fat bastard?"

"Well... He's a homosexual.." Ludwig began, not knowing what to say or even _how_ to say it.

"Well _I_ knew that! What else?"

Ludwig gave his brother a questionable look and decided to tell him what Ivan told him about that night at the bar. "You're not so straight yourself. You came in your pants from just _listening_ to him."

Gilbert blushed in both embarrassment and fury. He leaped up from his chair, toppling it over onto the floor. "He told you?!" Ludwig nodded. "That.. ugh! What else do you know?"

"He has two sisters."

Gilbert calmed slightly and sat in another chair, pulling it beside Ludwig ignoring the chair he knocked over. "Sisters? Did you meet them? Are they hot?"

Ludwig sighed. "Ja, I met them. He is terrified of his younger sister, Natasha... wait... I think her name was actually Natalia, but, everyone calls her Natasha... forget it, it's Natasha. She's like you, er, sort of. She's in love with him and is all over him, like you are to me." Ludwig finished his beer and set the empty bottle down.

"An incestuous sister? Ohoho! But I don't know why he would be terri--"

"She's homicidal. Beaten and tortured all his boyfriends, or..." Ludwig grins and looks at his brother. "...or anyone she finds out liked him or he hit on."

The colour drained from Gilbert's face, the response Ludwig wanted to get. "Nu-uh!" Ludwig nodded with a serious look. "Scheiße! Well, does she know about me?"

Ludwig sighed. "I don't know. I don't think so... So you _might_ be safe."

Gilbert sighed and downed his beer and asked for descriptions on what she looked like so that he can avoid her if she ever came after him. Once Gilbert had his fill of Natasha, Ludwig began to describe Yeketarina. Naturally, the moment he commented on the size of her chest, Gilbert went on a rant, his face covered in ill thought as he made many comments holding his hands out from his chest as if groping invisible breasts. After a couple minutes of enduring that, Ludwig punched him in the face and went to bed claiming if we wanted to know more he would have to calm down and behave like an adult rather than a prepubescent boy who suddenly became interested in the opposite sex.

As it grew closer to August, Ivan and Ludwig began sending messages back and forward, most of them are official business on setting up a meeting to finalise the Non-Aggression Pact, whilst others were of a more romantic nature. An old acquaintance of Ludwig's caught wind of the pact and decided to pay a personal visit to him to better understand why.

Ludwig opened his front door to find Roderich standing at the door, books of music in his hand.

"I hope you still have that piano I gave you..."

Ludwig nodded and gestured into his house. "Of course. If I didn't have it, I would have to hear it from you later. So you are here about the messages to Moscow, right?"

The Austrian followed his German host, never loosing his aristocratic stride as if _he _was the host. "Of course, but I don't want to get into politics just yet. Lets talk about something more _interesting_, like music." He held up the music he brought.

Ludwig chuckled lightly. "It's always music with you." He pulled up a chair beside the piano and sat down as Roderich set down his music face down. "You memorised it?"

"I memorise all my music, besides, I don't want you to cheat." Roderich grinned as he lightly played a major scale.

"So this is a test? Alright. As long as you stick to German music, I'll pass."

Roderich smiled and began to play, his facial expressions mimicking his music as if his very soul was the musical notes emanating from the inner strings of the piano. His fingers lightly danced across the keys in _piano_ and forcefully slammed down in angered passion in _forte, _and even more so on accented notes. Ludwig just sat back listening to the music reverberate and echo throughout the house, his eyes fixated on the facial expressions of the Austrian and his ears tuned to every cord and rhythm. He sat in complete silence listening until Roderich slowed in a _ritard _and lightly struck the final cord, holding the note to allow it's dark sound fill the room before removing his hands from the ivory keys and turning to Ludwig.

"Who composed that piece?"

"That's easy, Beethoven."

"Correct," Roderich answered with a smile as he turned to the piano again. "Here's the next piece..." He began to play the music again, the notes coming out in a gentle wave of _cresendos_ and _decresendos. _Roderich swayed with the music, once again putting all his emotion into the notes, his fingers skipping and dancing across the keys. Ludwig had realised long ago that if you couldn't grasp the emotion or meaning of a certain piece of music, all you had to do was watch Roderich's face while he played it. All his movements mirrored the music. As the music intensified into more dramatic rhythms, the Austrian became more tense and exaggerated every note with his movements before lightening up and finishing the song with a smile. "This one is harder. Who composed it?"

Ludwig thought for a moment, struggling to remember. "I would have to say... Chopin?"

"That is correct," Roderich proudly spoke, holding his head up high. "Now.. Was that one of his preludes, ballades, or nocturnes?"

Ludwig thought for a moment. He wasn't good on music, having never studied it to the extent that his guest has, but after knowing Roderich, you pick things up. "Nocturne?"

Roderich nodded in approval. "Can you name which one?"

"This is ridiculous, I don't have every song memorised."

"Guess."

Ludwig sighed. "D...flat and um...Op. 27?" Roderich gave him a blank stare in disbelief. "What? Was I wrong?"

"You were guessing, right?" Ludwig nodded. "That's one hell of a guess.. It's right. It was his Nocturne in D-flat Major, Op. 27. That's some guessing."

"Danke. I thought you were going to keep to German music, so I was thrown off."

"Oh but this is! In Vienna--"

"He was born in Poland. His father was French and his mother was a Pole."

"So? Poland was gone, it was just different areas that had been annexed by me, your brother, and that Russian. Oh! Who, by the way is why I'm here." He spun around on the stool so he was directly facing Ludwig. "As much as I would love discussing Chopin, and I'm quite proud that you know so much about him, the fact of the matter is... you're getting yourself into trouble. Why do you need help of the Russians?"

"It's not that I _need_ help, I don't. I just want to make sure that I don't have to deal with him in the war, if, in fact we even go to war." Ludwig shifted in his seat, leaning forward slightly and pointing at the Austrian at key points of his explanation. "We would want to take as much land as possible without getting too many people upset about us." He leaned back in his seat, crossing his legs slightly and folding his arms across his chest. "We have common enemies. His allies aren't too happy to have him with them; they hate Communists. So do we out here in Germany, but if we agree not to attack and being completely different political standings than his allies, he would be more willing to side with us. I'm not asking for assistance to fight on our side, that'll look bad publicly. All I'm asking for, is him and his army to lower their weapons and look the other way as we take Poland and any other countries between us."

Roderich thought for a moment. He wasn't fond of getting caught up in politics and had always preferred to discussions on the musical arts than war tactics and strategies. After coming up with a reply he answered slowly, trying to sound as educated in the subject as possible. "Even so, if you do get all the land in-between you, he's bound to feel crowded and fire upon you. He's like us, he wants a large empire as well. All the land he has isn't enough for him. I had asked him once to help me fight your brother when he finally got close to my capital. He did, and within a month or two he pushed his military to the Prussian capital, but when I refused to allow him to completely remove Prussia, he got upset and left, causing me to loose the war later on. He only wanted more. What's to say he won't do the same now?"

"Precisely the point. We thought of that actually and we discussed it recently. We are willing to give him complete custody and acknowledge his control over the Baltic countries and the other Eastern Slavic countries. He gets to keep those and he would also gain the eastern half of Poland if he agreed to help out. Nothing else is required. He helps with the invasion and doesn't fire on us later on, and he gets his satellite countries to himself. So he is gaining more land as well."

"So this is all well thought out. You sure it's going to hold through? He's not going to back-stab you?"

Ludwig shook his head. "We have...a certain _understanding_ in the matter. I have his trust."

"So how did you come across this understanding? I find it difficult to reason with him, he's a bit..._backwards_. Was it hard?"

Ludwig coughed and blushed slightly and looked away. "You can say something like that." There was silence for a couple minutes as they both just thought, staring at their boots. "Are you staying for dinner? I haven't had your cooking in awhile."

"Maybe next time." Roderich stood up and picked up his music. "I really need to go talk to Elizabetha. You know...about the separation."

"You're still upset about that? I'm sorry it didn't work out." Ludwig stood up to help with the music but his offer was declined.

"It's not like I had much of a choice then. Everything just went to hell in the Great War. We both couldn't handle it. She blamed the whole thing on me because of Ferdinand."

"Maybe if we won the war you two would still be together." Ludwig walked with Roderich to the front door.

Roderich nodded as he stepped outside, his music neatly held under his arm. "What can you do? Lead your troops to force her to join your Reich?"

"There is always that option."

Roderich shrugged and slowly made his way to his car. "It was nice seeing you again."

"Wait! I almost forgot!" The German hastily ran down his steps to his friend, stepping in front of him to prevent his entry into the vehicle. "There is a man I want you to keep an eye out for. I recently had him transferred out to Mauthausen out in your area. You have more say there now, but I--"

"I'd prefer to stay out of your politics and just let the Nazi's do as they please. You know I'm in full support of--"

"I know I know. Trust me on this. This man, Alfred Haag, he's important." Ludwig kept his voice low and spoke quickly so that no one heard him, not entirely sure as to why, but it was better to be safe than sorry. "I want him eventually to return alive."

"Are you protecting this Communist?" Roderich raised an eyebrow, speaking louder than Ludwig would have liked.

"Of course not!" Ludwig lied, grabbing his friend by the arm and pulling him close so he can keep his voice low still. "It's just that, I don't want him to be executed in Austria. If he was going to die, it would be in Germany. After all, he was a threat to _my_ people, therefore he should die by our hands, not yours. Besides," he quickly added, "Dachau was getting full and his execution hasn't been ordered yet and I needed to transfer him."

"Why didn't you say that in the first place? I thought you were trying to protect him. If you said 'my camps are full and I needed to transfer him until I can have him return for an execution' or something like that, I would have believed you. After all, I don't really get how your system works, but I'll try my best."

"Viel danke. I could hug you, but I won't." Ludwig released him and stepped out of the way. They said their goodbyes and Roderich left with promises to make him some of his cakes, swearing this time he wouldn't destroy the kitchen.

Back in Moscow, Ivan had gotten back to his usual routine of locking himself in a room alone with vodka to stare blankly at the walls. Toris, Edward and Raivis had all gotten used to his kindness from when Ludwig was around and found themselves taking it for granted, though they all had to agree that he was much kinder the past week than he had been before. Often when Ivan disappeared into his study, they would hear nothing if not, loud shouting at some nonexistent person or uncontrollable sobbing. They never let on that they can hear him, especially after what had happened to Raivis when he had first moved in.

Back then, Raivis was naïve and didn't understand that when Ivan begins to drink, you should avoid him at all costs. He had wandered through the house looking for him, a loud crash followed by slurred swears alerted him that he had locked himself in his study again. He peeked in to see if he was alright and curious as to what had broken. Ivan was hunched over his desk, holding his bleeding hand that had shattered his glass. The floor of the study was littered with vodka bottles, some broken, others not. Ivan grabbed the bottle and began to drink from it, holding it with his bloodied hand as if he couldn't feel the pain anymore.

Raivis was staring at the oddly pink vodka before realising that it was only pink because blood had dripped down inside and mixed in with the alcohol. Ivan didn't even notice. What he _did_ notice however, was Raivis in the doorway. Ivan turned and gave Raivis a grin and motioned him to come in, questioning why he was standing there. The events that followed, no one remembered, but they all _knew_ what happened.

Toris and Edward both sat in horror as they heard their younger sibling screaming, crying, _begging_ for Ivan to stop, both of them too cowardly to stand up to protect him. Toris had broken into sobs knowing how badly Ivan had beaten him and feared that he was now doing the same to Raivis. They watched as Ivan walked out of the room, a look of satisfaction on his face mixed with drunken pride. They rushed in expecting to see Raivis covered in gashes and blood, barely conscious. Instead, he was cowering on the floor, crying, hiding his face in shame. Blood was smeared on his mouth and neck from when Ivan muffled his screams and choked him. His red coat was torn open and his pants were tossed against the chair. It was then that he began to suffer from fainting spells and severe shaking that lead Ivan to believe that he had epilepsy.

But now, Ivan wasn't in some pit of drunken anger but rather, a drunken joy. Curiosity caused them to check up on him and found him silently smiling as he looked out the window, his eyes set on something in the distance. If he caught them watching him, instead of beating them as punishment, he invited them to sit and drink with him. After a few days of this, Ivan began to notice that they all were behaving like they could do anything and get away with it, so he decided to exert himself on them to remind them who was in control.

Ivan began to randomly push and shove them out of his way, or deliberately change his path so that they were in his way, using his height and weight as an advantage against them. He slipped back into creeper status as he would watch them cook or read while he lightly chanted "kol kol kol" to send fear into them. One incident Ivan had grabbed Toris by the collar of his coat and slammed him against the wall hard enough to cause his head to bounce off the wall resulting in a concussion. After staring at him with a cold glare he then asked, "What time is it?"

"J-just after three, sir..." Toris choked out.

"Ok, I'm going to take a nap, wake me up at four." Ivan dropped him and lightly skipped off to his room to sleep, leaving Toris confused as to why he needed to be so violent in just _asking_ for the time. Still, his time of kindness was a blessing that was well enjoyed and now the Russian household was once again being brought back to normality.

Ivan had left to go buy more vodka with Edward leaving Toris and Raivis alone to watch and clean the house from his last drinking spree. Toris and Raivis joked and made foolish impressions of Ivan drinking with the many bottles of vodka that had been tossed about. Raivis in a good mood for the first time in a long time, free of his trembling and fear, leaped across the room and picked up an empty bottle and sat in the chair.

"Skatieties, skatieties!" Raivis cheerily laughed, drawing the Lithuanian's attention. Once he had his attention, Raivis shouted with a large grin. "Who am I?!" After he said that, he slumped over in his seat and kicked his legs out from under him and lazily held the bottle above his head as if he was trying to pour it down his throat. He frowned and tossed it to the floor with a large _clink_ and grumbled poorly pronounced words that started out as, "Damn, out of vodka already?" but then progressed into mumbled nonsense.

Toris doubled over in laughter, "Ivan! Ivan! Just like him!" They both sat in laughter until they had fallen into the laugh where you were out of breath, sides aching and tears streaming from your eyes. "Ok, ok, that's enough. We need to continue cleaning or," Toris stood up and put an hand on his hip and pointed with a stern look, mimicking Ivan's deep authoritative voice, "do you want me to give you a lashing?" They were silent for a moment before erupting into laughter once again.

During their merriment, Raivis had accidentally knocked a dish onto the floor shattering it into several pieces. Worried, he began to tremble in panic on it's consequences. Toris reassured him that Ivan wouldn't know it happened, they would simply clean it up and never speak a word of it. After all, Ivan was out of the house, he didn't need to know what went on in his absence. But like all good things, it came to an abrupt end as the front door opened.

Edward rushed in with a stack of paperwork, looking distressed which ultimately meant that the Russian was in a bad mood. Toris and Raivis quickly went to work on cleaning up the plate before he entered, but were too late. Ivan slammed the door and stood in the kitchen doorway, glaring down at them.

"I'm sorry, sir. I accidentally knocked it over." Toris spoke in a panic. He had to take the blame to spare the young Latvian of the punishment.

Ivan silently glared at the Lithuanian, his eyes filled with his usual anger before a beating. Toris came up with two reasons for this: One, he bottled it all up until now, and two, today just really wasn't his day. They both lead to the same result, that whatever it is, Ivan is going to take out all his frustration on whoever broke the plate.

"Get up," Ivan commanded. Toris obeyed sheepishly, his body no longer used to the abuse and suddenly felt very frail. "Come with me."

Toris was lead to Ivan's room, the air heavy as Ivan's negative energy filled the room like a dark poison. All Raivis and Edward could do then was silently watch their brother being lead into the room, their hearts sinking in guilt as he was brutally shoved into the room. The soft click of the lock echoing through their heads as his fate was sealed. On the other side of the door Toris just sat on the floor where he fell, staring up at the taller man as he walked closer, towering above him.

"It's been awhile since I've punished you. I'm going to have to make up for the ones you got away with." Ivan coldly spoke, his normally soft high voice had dropped down to be coarse and deep. All Toris could do was stare up in terror. "You thought I have forgotten haven't you?"

* * *

**Author's Note:** As always, I apologise for the lateness of this chapter. I tried my best to get the musical sense of Roderich but somehow, I feel as if I could have done much better. Too late now, I'm leaving it as is. I am trying to get to the dark side of Ivan so the next chapter may be a bit...graphic so to speak. I have a main idea on what I'm going to put but I am also open to any suggestions and interpretations on what Ivan's punishments would be. I won't stray too far from my original plot of course, but I would like a few of your opinions. The idea, and I'll say it quickly, has been stuck in my head for the longest time and has puzzled me to write it out, so the next chapter may be a bit late as well. I had to rearrange this chapter entirely when I read it through, realising it didn't flow properly. As always, I am not the best at translating so if I made an error in anything, please let me know and I'll fix it as soon as possible.

**Bruder: **Brother (German, though it's pretty obvious, no?)

**Ja:** Yes (German)

**Scheiße:** Shit (German)

**Skatieties: **Look (Latvian)

If you have any questions about the musical terms I used, message me and I'll be glad to explain them. And as for what Ivan did to Raivis, if it isn't already obviously, he raped him. That is my whole theory on why he is so shaky around Ivan and faints. At first, I thought the character was an epileptic and he vaguely reminded me of an epileptic character from a book, so I had to mention epilepsy directly rather than indirectly like in the previous chapters. Oh! and one last thing, don't as what the first piece Roderich was playing was, I just wrote it as is without a particular piece in mind, which I probably shouldn't but oh well...


	15. Chapter 15

Ch. 15

Ivan glowered down at Toris who only stammered out the first syllable of "sir," fear causing him to lose all ability to speak properly. Ivan bent forward and grabbed Toris by the collar of his shirt, roughly jerking him to his feet. For a while, they just stood there in silence; Ivan silently deciding on what to do, what the punishment would entail, and in which order he will carry out his beatings, slowly calculating everything up. The longer he took the more uneasy Toris grew.

"If it's for the plate... I'm very sorry, I didn't mean to, it just slipped-" Toris stammered before receiving a hard slap across the face. Immediately his face stung and grew hot from the impact. He turned and looked at the Russian pleadingly, waiting, expecting for a second slap, but it didn't come. Ivan only glared down at him harder before shoving him against the bed.

Toris turned and winced at the rape that normally followed his rough landing on the bed, listening in fear for Ivan to walk over to the bed, cower as he loomed over him and... Toris looked up, peeking over his shoulder to see what was keeping the Russian from continuing the abuse. Ivan was not there, he had walked away and was going through his closet, searching for something. The longer it took him to find what he was looking for, the more Toris's stomach sank and became more fearful. If anything had truly changed since the arrival of the German, Ivan became even more unpredictable.

The Lithuanian watched Ivan return from the closet, a bottle he had hidden in hand, struggling to get it open as if his mind was not on the precious alcohol within the bottle, but something else. Ivan managed to open the bottle and drank quickly, turning towards his victim.

"You wouldn't lie to me, would you?" He asked, his eyes narrowed in their glare. Toris only shook his head and watched Ivan finish off the entire bottle within seconds before he stumbled over. "Then...tell me...why do you insist on lying?"

Ivan pulled back his arm and chucked the bottle at Toris. He immediately ducked, dodging the flying bottle letting it crash and shatter on the wall behind him. On reflex, he turned to the sound of the bottle shattering, forgetting Ivan. When he turned back, Ivan's hand slammed into his face, trailed upward, tangling his fingers in his hair in a tight grip and yanked his head back up, forcing him to his feet. Toris yelped as tears began to form in his eyes.

"Why?" the Russian barked.

"I-I don't know..!" Toris stammered. He was answered back with another hard slap across his face as the Russian repeated his one word question. "Really! I don't know!"

"You don't know?"

Toris nodded and repeated in sobs. "I don't know."

"You don't know, what?" Ivan pulled his hair harder.

"I don't know, _sir_." He cried in heavy sobs. The months of neglect of abuse had softened him. He was no longer mentally prepared for it, no longer able to hold his emotions together and get his mind someplace else.

Ivan picked up him back up by his hair and glared at him. "You don't even ask what you are lying about? You really do know and just don't want to say it, do you?" He slammed his face into the wall, the sound of a picture frame bouncing off of the wall from the impact resonated in the hall along with Toris's agonised scream of pain. "DO YOU?" The Russian yelled again as he pulled the Lithuanian to his feet.

Toris didn't know how to respond; all mental processes of his shut down entirely as he choked on the blood pouring down his face from his broken nose and a cut on his forehead. He attempted to speak in a gargled mess of blubbering and spitting blood. He wasn't quite positive, but he may have busted his lip as well; if not from that first impact against the wall, then from the others that quickly followed.

Outside the room, cowering in his older brother's arms was Raivis, terrified at the rising voices and the pounding against the wall. Neither of them wanted to imagine what was being slammed so violently against the wall, though they didn't have to try since a pained scream followed after the loudest of the thumps. Toris's voice sliced through the entire house as he screeched in agony as he was violently punished for every little thing he had done, from forgetting to start dinner early, to dropping a dish, to enjoying his time away from him. But with all the reasons he was being beaten for, the one that was the most violent was the most random, unrelated issue that had not been brought up for quite some time.

"Do you still want to be with your Pol'skaya shlyuha?" Ivan's voice tore through the crying whimpers of the Baltic's. "Do you still have no feelings, no _respect_ for me? Am I nothing? Did all that I did for you mean _nothing at all_?"

There were muffled whimpers before Ivan burst out into another screaming fit about his betrayal, how Toris paid no attention to the feelings that Ivan had for him. It seemed that although he had found a new love, his heart was still torn to the Lithuanian man; that he can never get over him as if it was his first and only love. That of course wasn't true, but he had been with him more than anyone and to be betrayed by the one you trust the most is heartbreaking. Ivan's real reason for punishment was never made clear to those trembling in the hall; for harbouring the ideals of betrayal. He never wanted Toris to leave his side, even if he moved on to another. It was like the loss of a limb; a dancer losing their legs, a singer their voice, a violinist their hands. And for Ivan, Toris had for so long been the most important appendage on his body keeping him from losing his mind or ending it all in a game of Russian roulette with a fully loaded gun.

"Go to your room." Edward whispered to his Latvian brother, just loud enough to be heard over the cries of pain. "Don't look back, block it all out. No matter what happens, do not go out of your room. Stay inside. Lock the door, be safe from him."

Raivis nodded and ran to his room, heart racing and head spinning as he felt faint. In his rush to his room, he shut the door and hid under his sheets as if they were an impenetrable force field, all the while forgetting to lock his door.

Half an hour of agonising screams of extreme pain filled the cold halls with the rythmic cracks of whips, ringing of shattering glass and acoustic beatings of a body against a hard surface. The door crept open, spilling the beaten and broken Lithuanian's tired whimpering into the eerie silence that followed the outburst. Ivan stepped out, his hair matted with sweat, eyes glazed over from the alcohol and pink from the occasional tear shed through the ordeal. He glanced over his shoulder and muttered a single sentence that shot through Toris sharper than any of the blows he had just received.

"You're not even worthy to fuck anymore." The Russian turned and looked down the abandoned hallway. No one was in sight, all of course hiding to avoid further punishment. But it wasn't punishment that he was looking for now. Savagely beating Toris has always left him aroused, but his recent anger at him left him too furious to release his rising sexual tension out of him. It was going to be awhile before he could see his German lover again and Ivan wasn't the kind to wait so long when aroused this much; especially when heavily under the influence of alcohol and strong emotions.

He slowly made his way down the hallway towards the rooms of the other Baltics. They were his back up for when the Lithuanian was too spent for him or he was tired of him, but which one to pick at this moment and what to do was the most difficult. Normally he went for the oldest, but that was purely because the younger one was always locked beyond his reach. It's always better with someone younger he had always thought, but then again, he appeared older than the other countries, if not at least more 'experienced'.

On a whim he tested the Latvian's door, grin spreading widely across his face when the door knob didn't put up a fight and the door eased open.

"Oh Raivis~" He cooed as he opened the door and walked in, shutting it behind him gently with a light click.

* * *

**A/N:** Sorry for the long wait, I had actually forgotten that I had this chapter completed. Oops! Don't thank me for the update, oh for the love of all things, don't thank me. I'm undeserving. I'm a horrible author! You should thank Mupyeong because her review made me look back at it to see where I was in the story and realise what there was. If I hadn't done that, who knows when I would have even updated!


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